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SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED: 



BEING A SERIES OF 



TWELVE LECTURES 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



iUfo £orfe €ankxtntt of Bpxitulhh, 



JOEL TIFFANY, 
i * 

In January, 1856. 



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REPORTED PHONOGRAPHICALLY 
BY 

QRAHAM AND ELLINWOOD 

SECOND EDITION. 

IEW YORK: 
GRAHAM AND ELLINWOOD, PUBLISHERS, 

143 FULTON STREET. 

1856. 



j 2 5X 
CApy 



KNTEKED, ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE TEAR 1856, BY 

GRAHAM AND ELLINWOOD, 

IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW TORE. 



Davies and Eoberts, Stereotypers, 
201 William Street, New York. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 

INTRODUCTION V 

Chapter 

I. — ON THE DETERMINATION OF TRUTH 11 

II. — THE SPHERE OF LUST 31 

III. THE SECOND, OR RELATIONAL SPHERE 53 

IV. — COMMUNICATION 67 

V. — PHILOSOPHY OF PROGRESSION 89 

VI. MEDIUMSHIP 104 

VII. MEDIUMSHIP — SPIRITUAL HEALING 118 

VIII. CONDITION OF THE SPIRIT IN THE SPIRIT-WORLD 133 

IX. — ORGANIZATION INDIVIDUALIZATION 147 

X. — WHAT CONSTITUTES THE SPIRIT 157 

XI. — LUST. 172 

XII. — MARRIAGE— FREE LOVE 190 



INTRODUCTION. 



The relations of man to his God have occupied the first 
minds of every age, but without rendering those relations so 
understandable to the mass of mankind as to be admitted as 
true. It has been evident to many, although not to all, that 
some minds so engaged have been inspired to write beyond 
the current knowledge of their day, indeed to foretell truths 
which could only be recognized as such after centuries of 
progression. 

The natural propensity of the human mind in the exercise 
of its ingenuity has been constantly developing in the en- 
deavor to theorize upon the writings of these inspired authors, 
so as to present an entire system for the consicteration of 
man. Each of these systems so proposed has passed away, 
from the fact that it carried with it the elements of its own 
destruction, itself not arising purely from the absolute, and 
therefore subject to the analysis of progressed mind, and by 
such analysis found wanting. Those theories which might 
have seemed compatible with the ability to adjudge truth in 
the middle ages, were not truths to the more progressed minds 
of later times ; so that truth, except to absolute conscious- 
ness, may be considered, when subject to the test of human 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

comprehension, as not absolute even to such comprehension, 
except in degree, and that varying with the continued pro- 
gression of the recipient. Thus the best minds at this time 
willingly admit that the writer of Job was inspired — that he 
wrote truths beyond the comprehension of more than a thou- 
sand years beyond his time. One instance of this may be 
thus stated; 

To Galileo and Copernicus we have attributed the discov- 
ery of the fact that the world is round ; and yet the writer of 
the Book of Job, who wrote a thousand years before them, 
tells us that the earth is round, that its north is frigid, that the 
waters are divided by the dry land, where the day becomes 
night, and the night becomes day — clearly indicating that the 
continents are twelve hours apart, and that the earth must 
revolve to enable the relative position of its parts to the sun 
to give the phenomena now so well understood. 

Plato was an inspired man. He wrote on the soul, far in 
advance of his day ; and it is only a progressed mind at this 
time that can read and comprehend his views. With Plato, 
all admit that his normal progression might have been 
equal to the observance of the results of his inspiration. But 
the writer of the Book of Job could never have seen an ocean. 
He could not have known of the existence of another conti- 
nent, and the sciences collateral to his text could not have 
rendered him the didactic aid which would have been ne- 
cessary to have made him cognizant, in bis normal con- 
dition, of the truths he uttered ; and, therefore, it is at least 
possible, if not probable, that these truths were directly the 
result of inspiration, as much beyond his own comprehension 
as beyond the comprehension of others. Indeed, even at the 
present day, thousands of students of theology have read Job 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

without perceiving that he had fore-run Galileo and Coperni- 
cus in their supposed discoveries. 

It is not to be wondered at, then, that modern Spiritualism 
and its truths, if credited to the source from which they are 
supposed to be derived, should be found to present truths not 
understood as such by every mind ; and, notwithstanding its 
million converts, it seems to have embraced but few minds 
capable of presenting in a didactic form these truths. The 
various writers on the subject have rather spoken of its curi- 
osities than its use ; and we know of no book capable of in- 
structing and satisfying even a progressed mind on either the 
precise use or exact advantages arising from a full belief in 
Spiritualism. 

This task has been most fearlessly performed by Joel Tif- 
fany, Esq. He brought to the work a vigorous and original 
mind. A long course of legal practice had peculiarly adapted 
him to the task, particularly as an investigator of truth. His 
own progression was such as to enable him to advantage by 
his former practice, while his mediative power gave him in- 
tuitive advantages seldom combined in the same individual. 
His course of lectures seems to be suited to the precise wants 
of the day. It is true that they are not calculated for the 
use of the novice, but they are the only source we know of at 
this time by which those who have passed through the curi- 
osity-phase of the subject of Spiritualism are enabled to re- 
view their observations and apply them usefully to their own 
progression. All those properties of the mind known as 
adjective in common parlance, requiring the assistance of the 
observation of others to render them substantive, are clearly 
defined by Mr. Tiffany. 

His analysis of mind, when properly understood, enables all 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 



ON THE DETERMINATION OF TRUTH. 

In commencing the investigation of Spiritualism, it 
becomes necessary in the outset that we find some 
point from which to start, or to commence our examin- 
ation; for, in the inquiry after truth, we must find 
some standard by which we can determine truth — for 
unless we have that to which we can appeal to deter- 
mine infallibly what is truth, however much we may 
investigate, we shall always be uncertain as to the 
accuracy of our conclusions. 

Man, as a conscious being, endowed with the faculty 
of perceiving being and existence, and also being 
susceptible to the influence of that which he per- 
ceives, himself becomes the center of all his investi- 
gations in the universe ; and if there is any standard 
by which to try truth, he must find that standard within 
his own consciousness. Outside of man's conscious- 
ness there is no standard to him of truth. 

I will illustrate briefly what I mean, that you may 
perceive how I wish to direct you in the investigation 



12 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

of the* question, What is Truth? and how shall it be 
determined ? The science of mathematics is said to be 
certain and demonstrative. And why is the science of 
mathematics any more demonstrable than is any other 
science? Why is it that the truth which it affirms can 
be any more positively demonstrated than any other 
truth? Is it because number and quantity are more 
fixed and certain than are qualities and attributes of 
being and existence ? Why is it that the affirmations 
of mathematics are more demonstrable than the truths 
of any other science ? I answer, that it is simply owing 
to the mode of proceeding in our investigations. If 
we will adopt the same process that we do in mathe- 
matics, we can have the same certainty upon all other 
questions that come within the sphere of man's per- 
ceptions and affections. The mathematician comes 
down into his own consciousness, and finds certain 
conscious affirmations pertaining to number and quan- 
tity. He puts them down as truths not to be disre- 
garded, and calls them self-evident truths or axioms. 
They are such affirmations of the consciousness as 
everybody must, per force, admit to be true ; and when 
he has obtained the affirmations of his consciousness 
pertaining to number and quantity, he puts them down 
as truths not to be disregarded. They are always true 
everywhere, and under all circumstances, where num- 
ber and quantity are to be investigated. He assumes 
nothing to be true which conflicts with these conscious 
affirmations of the soul. "Things equal to the same 
thing are equal to one another" must be received as 
true throughout the wide universe, so far as the 
mathematician investigates ; and he allows nothing to 
controvert that self-evident truth ; and so of all other 
affirmations. He allows nothing, in his investigations, 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 13 

to conflict at all ; and whatever does conflict, he affirms 
to be false. Then, before he takes another step, he is 
very careful to fix upon accurate definitions, so that we 
may know precisely what he means — may understand 
exactly the scope of what he says. For instance, 
speaking of geometry, he will say that it pertains to 
the measurement of extent, and extent has three di- 
mensions — length, breadth, and thickness. He next 
goes on to give definitions of that which is necessary 
to bound space — tells you what is a straight line, what 
a curved line, what is a plain surface, what is a curved 
surface, etc. After having ascertained the affirmations 
of the consciousness of the soul, in respect to number 
and quantity, and having fixed accurately upon the 
definition of all terms to be used, he then commences 
by demonstration, and will not go one step faster than 
demonstration attends him — does not launch at all into 
conjecture. He makes the relation between premises 
and conclusion inevitable ; and if there be not an in- 
evitable relation, he does not establish his proposition 
mathematically. 

JSTow, what is true in respect to mathematics, is true 
in respect to every other subject that may come before 
the mind. There are conscious affirmations of the soul 
lying at the basis of all investigation; and in these 
conscious affirmations of the soul is to be found the 
standard by which to try the truth of whatever plane 
or sphere of thought. The first point to be taken is 
to ascertain what are the affirmations of the soul upon 
those points to be investigated. Our next step is to 
fix upon certain definitions, so that we can always un- 
derstand precisely what we mean in our use of terms. 
Then we must see next that the relation between pre- 
mises and conclusion be always inevitable. There 



14 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

must never be left any opportunity for the premises to 
be true and the conclusion false. Then we shall always 
be certain of having the truth. 

In investigating the science of mind and spirit, I 
propose to pursue this mathematical course ; and not 
attempt to argue any point that is not capable of 
demonstration — that is not based upon the absolute 
affirmation of the soul, conducted with reference to 
strict definitions, and making the relation of premises 
and conclusion inevitable. The reason of being thus 
particular is, that the greatest confusion prevails, not 
only in respect to the subject of the New Philosophy, 
or Spiritualism, but in respect to all subjects pertain- 
ing to spiritual life. Man does not know precisely 
where to begin his investigation. He does not seem 
to know precisely where he is certain of any thing per- 
taining to spiritual existence, and thinks that it must 
be all conjectural. 

Now here is an affirmation which I believe every 
man in the audience will agree to be an affirmation of 
every one's consciousness, and that it lies at the basis 
of all our investigation of this and every other subject. 
(I will say further, that, if any individual in the au- 
dience disagrees with me, he will confer a favor by 
manifesting that disagreement at any time; because 
I wish to be exceedingly near to you as a lecturer, and 
wish you to be exceedingly near to me, so that there 
may be the most perfect freedom of intercourse of 
thought and expression between us.) 

Then the first affirmation of the consciousness is 
this : That the mind can perceive nothing but its own 
consciousness, and that which is inwrought into that 
consciousness. 

Now I wish you to try that in every possible way, 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 15 

to see if it be true. We talk about getting informa- 
tion and forming ideas from subjects outside of our- 
selves, as though it were independent of our minds. 
My proposition is, that the mind can perceive nothing 
but its own consciousness, and that which is inwrought 
into that consciousness ; and, furthermore, that its per- 
ception of being and existence will be according as it 
is inwrought into its consciousness ; and by no possi- 
bility can it be any thing else to the individual ; and, 
as a matter of course, if there be any standard any- 
where by which to try truth, and know that it is true, 
that standard must be inwrought into the conscious- 
ness of the individual who has to apply it ; and he will 
apply it accordingly as it is inwrought into his con- 
sciousness. Now is there any one that does not per- 
ceive that this is absolutely true ? Then receiving that 
as a truth which every mind affirms — it can not sup- 
pose the contrary of it to be true — we must set down 
every thing as false which conflicts with this proposi- 
tion, no matter whether it overthrows authority or not. 
Whatever conflicts with this self-evident truth, or 
affirmation of universal consciousness, must be false. 
Truth does not conflict with truth. You may be as- 
sured that falsehood always exists where you find con- 
flict and antagonism. It follows then, that all there is 
of being or of existence in the universe that will ever 
be known to you or me will be that which is inwrought 
into our consciousness. It follows, as a matter of 
course, the universe can be no larger and no more per- 
fect, than it can be inwrought into our consciousness ; 
and it will be limited to us by our mental unfolding. 
Hence it will necessarily follow, that different indi- 
viduals who are differently unfolded in the different 
departments of their intellectual and perceptional na« 



16 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

tures, will perceive being and existence in very differ- 
ent lights ; and yet each will suppose that each sees it 
in the same lights, until we begin to compare notes. 
There will be as many different New Yorks as there 
are different minds to form images or conceptions of 
New York. So there will be as many different mental 
Earths or mental universes as there are minds to form 
conceptions of our Earth and the universe ; and each 
mind will have the Earth or the universe fashioned into 
his own consciousness, and when it will investigate, it 
will investigate that which is then fashioned therein, 
and study it as fashioned there. It follows then, as a 
matter of course, that when the image of the existence 
within our consciousness corresponds to the actuality, 
that is, when the ideal in man corresponds to the real 
in God, then man has the truth — not till then. That 
is, when my perception of being and existence corre- 
sponds with the being and existence, then I have the 
truth of being and existence. But just so far as my 
idea or perception of being or existence deviates from 
its actuality, just so far my impression is false. These 
conclusions follow as a matter of necessity. Hence 
you and I will learn at once, that the first lesson for 
us to learn in commencing the study of the universe, 
is to learn ourselves. The very first volume that is 
opened before us, is that which God has given us in 
giving us a conscious being. Here we must com- 
mence our first lesson, because every thing must be re- 
corded in the pages of this volume. God can never 
manifest any part of the universe or himself to us be- 
yond the capacity of the pages of this volume to re- 
ceive that manifestation. It follows then, as a matter 
of course, that truth can never be communicated by 
authority ; and when a man tells me that a certain 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. IT 

thing is true upon his authority, I can not receive it 
simply upon his statement. You will understand that 
I distinguish between stating a truth and narrating 
a fact. I may receive a statement of fact upon au- 
thority. 

A man may tell me that there is such a place as Lon- 
don, and I believe it ; and I may form an idea respect- 
ing it ; but the ideal London I have in my mind is 
very far from being the real London — is very far from 
being a representation of the real London. That is, the 
ideal London which I have exists only in my mind, 
has no representative corresponding in the outward 
matter-of-fact London. But when the real London is 
brought into my consciousness, I have the London. 
Before, I had a sort of a London. Now you will un- 
derstand what is meant by a difference between form- 
ing a conception of a fact and a truth. Suppose I 
should say to you that the sum of the squares of the 
two sides of a right-angled triangle is equal to the 
square of its hypotenuse, you having faith in my ca- 
pacity to determine truth will say, " I will believe it 
as a fact; but I have no perception of its truth — I 
have only your word for it." Now your faith is not 
in the truth of the proposition, but in my word. There 
is a truth there, but you can not receive it upon my 
authority. The reception of it as a truth depends upon 
your mind being unfolded to the plane of that truth. 
The question then for us to settle is, whether the con- 
ception in our minds corresponds to the actuality. If 
we have the means of determining that it does corre- 
spond, then we have the means of determining that -our 
perception is true. The truth is the perception by 
the mind of that which is. You may apply this rule 
to any sphere of investigation that you please. Then 



18 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

let us begin with man as a microcosm of the universe, 
and who is destined in his spiritual unfolding to be a 
microcosm of all that is in the universe ; in other words, 
whose mind here is to begin to translate the universe 
into its consciousness. The universe is a great book, 
which it is man's business to read and translate into 
his consciousness, so that the image within shall cor- 
respond to the actuality without — so that he shall be 
a universe of himself — so that the individual in his 
affection by that which is transferred also becomes a 
divine, a god. " Is it not written in your law, I said 
ye are gods ?" Man is to become in his impulses and 
character like the divine of the universe, so that he 
has not only all the wisdom, fact, and principle, but 
all the affection of the universe, to wit, the divine 
translated into his affection, so that in his outward 
form and inward being he is a child of God, created 
in his image. Thus, so far as we proceed day by day 
in translating the actual and real universe into the per- 
ceptive and ideal in us, so fast are we unfolding and 
growing up into knowledge; and when that knowledge 
is united with the truth and affectional impulses con- 
verted into wisdom, we are made temples for the in- 
dwelling of the divine spirit. It becomes us, then, to 
make use of all means within our power to perceive 
this great volume that God has opened before us, and 
given us the means of studying, translating into our 
minds, and making our own. Looking at man, then, 
as a conscious being, one that possesses the faculty of 
perceiving existence in all its various modes of mani- 
festation, and also of perceiving being itself, thus 
having within himself that whereon God can write not 
only the phenomena, but the law and science of being 
itself, let us become free men, lovers of the truth, de* 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 19 

termined to be honest with ourselves and the world. 



determined to know what can be known, and not to be 
deceived either bj our own appetites, passions, or 
lusts, or by the influences that others may extend over 
us to turn away our minds from earnestly and truth- 
fully investigating all subjects. The mind that is 
afraid to look upon the wide universe, to receive the 
image that God would impress upon it every day and 
moment of his life, is denying the birthright of his 
soul. 

Man, as a conscious being, is the subject of three 
degrees of conscious perception — he can be subject 
to no less and no more ; and being influenced by 
what he perceives — three degrees of affection. In 
other words, there is laid the foundation for three 
spheres of thought and three spheres of affection. He 
can possess no more — no less. Now I am to demon- 
strate this to be true in such a way that every one of 
you shall know its truth. I begin first to prove that 
these spheres of knowledge and affection exist in you, 
because it is my business, after having proved this — if 
I should succeed in proving it — to show that in the 
wide universe there are but those same three spheres 
of knowledge and those same three spheres of affection 
and love — no less and no more; that man possesses 
within himself the elements of all knowledge and affec- 
tion that exist in the wide universe. Unless he did 
possess these elements, he could not investigate the 
universe ; for he can only investigate that, the elements 
of which exist within his consciousness. In the first 
place, man has that faculty by which he perceives the 
mere phenomena of existence, or, in other words, he 
has that department of conscious being which is ad- 
dressed by what we call the physical senses, the scope 



20 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

of which is to reveal to him facts and phenomena in the 
material plane of existence. The physical senses can 
only reveal to him the facts and phenomena. In this 
respect man differs not at all from the animal, which 
possesses the same number of physical senses, and is 
impressed by the same light that impresses man's 
senses — is subject to the same conditions. The law 
by which perception is awakened in the consciousness 
is the same in the animal as in the man. But man 
possesses also another element that is not content with 
mere investigation, or mere observation of forms and 
phenomena. You see this other nature is manifested 
in the little child, after he begins to walk about and 
observe the forms of things. There are certain things 
he can not ascertain by the use of the physical senses, 
and he asks his parents for further information. If you 
will examine the philosophy of asking questions, you 
will perceive that it is a means of gaining information 
by the exercise of some faculties higher than the phys- 
ical senses. It is seeking for information that shall be 
applied to the consciousness, that shall be represented 
by ideas that exist in the mind. We may suppose that 
Sir Isaac Newton and his dog were sitting in the 
orchard, and that both saw an apple fall to the ground. 
The dog could observe the fact as well as Sir Isaac 
Newton, but Sir Isaac Newton perceived that there 
was something involved in the fall of that apple, which 
the dog never thought of. The dog confined his ob- 
servation to the mere fact ; but Sir Isaac Newton per- 
ceived, by the aid of a higher faculty, that there existed 
a law which he wished to ascertain, and therefore com- 
menced investigation to discover it. This department 
of mind which led Sir Isaac Newton to make this 
investigation was not content with observing the mere 



SPIEITUALISM EXPLAINED. 21 

facts or phenomena of existence, but wished to investi- 
gate that which was concerned in the production of 
the phenomenon. That faculty gives rise in man to 
this second sphere, which observes not the phenomena, 
but investigates the law or proximate causes of phe- 
nomena, and opens the field of science and philosophy. 
Hence the second sphere of thought is that sphere which 
investigates the relation of things and determines the 
law of action and manifestation through that relation. 
It belongs to what we call the relational, the middle, 
or mediatorial sphere ; because it embraces the means 
by which causes operate to produce effects. For in- 
stance, I speak and you hear. I am a cause of pro 
ducing a sound ; your ears are affected by the sound 
produced. The atmosphere is the medium by which 
the action is transmitted from my organs of speech to 
those of hearing. The physical senses notice the fact 
in the physical sphere ; the intellectual perceptions 
notice the means by which the fact is produced. The 
next, the highest, the inmost, absolute nature is that 
which perceives the absolute cause of these effects. 

There is a sphere of mind in you that observes the 
mere effect ; there is a sphere that investigates the re- 
lation or law by which phenomena are produced ; there 
is also a sphere of mind which searches after and per- 
ceives the absolute cause of the phenomena. JSTow, 
inasmuch as all being or existence must come under 
one of these forms, either its phenomena, the means 
by which they are produced, or the cause which, 
through the means, has produced the phenomena, 
there can be but these three departments of con- 
scious perception : the physical or intellectual, the 
moral or relational, and the divine or absolute, which 
perceives the absolute of all being. To illustrate the 



22 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

difference between the relational and the absolute: 
When Sir Isaac Newton discovered the existence of 
the law of gravitation, and found it the same that 
caused the motion of the planetary bodies, it was sup- 
posed that he discovered the cause of their motion. 
He named that law attraction, or attraction of gravi- 
tation. Now we turn upon Sir Isaac Newton and ask, 
What is attraction of gravitation? The only reply 
that can be made is to speak of its effects. However 
intellectual the mind may be, it must be ignorant of 
the absolute, because it belongs to the sphere of rela- 
tions. You can not analyze the infinite. You can not 
compare the infinite. It is only in the sphere of the 
finite that the intellectual faculties have power to pur- 
sue their investigations. That which perceives the 
absolute must of itself be absolute ; that is, the finite 
can not receive the infinite — the finite can not embrace 
the infinite. Therefore, if the infinite is ever to be 
represented to man, there must be a department that 
is receptive of the infinite ; and that department must 
be infinite, or it can not receive the infinite. When I 
dwell more particularly upon this subject, I will en- 
deavor to make it apparent to you so far as language 
is capable of making it. 

Corresponding to the three spheres of perception 
there are three spheres of affection. The first sphere 
is called the sphere of self-love, or, to use a word 
which would express it in every relation, I would call 
it lust; that is, the desire for self-gratification. This 
is the lowest sphere pertaining to the finite, and cor- 
responding to the sphere of fact or phenomena. The 
second sphere is the sphere of relational love, and 
that divides naturally into two departments — the love 
of unconscious nature, the love of sciences, etc., and 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 23 

the love of conscious being, or moral love, by which 
man loves his neighbor, some conscious being out of 
himself. That is the second sphere of love, known as 
relational, and it belongs to the sphere of relational 
truth, or the sphere of intellectual and moral investi- 
gation. There is a third sphere of impulse or love, 
known as the divine or absolute love, called the love 
of God, the love of the infinite. In one of these three 
spheres is every man's ruling affection to be found — in 
the sphere of self-love, seeking self-gratification ; or in the 
sphere of moral love, seeking the welfare of his neigh- 
bor; or in the sphere of divine love, loving as God 
loves, universally — not objectively, but subjectively, 
all the wide universe. There can be but just these 
three spheres. Now if each of you will investigate, 
you will readily recognize two of the affections at 
least to which I have called your attention, self-love, 
and social love, but more particularly self-love, desire 
for self-gratification, desiring that you may be first 
made happy, and then leaving the world to be happy 
afterward. The love that goes out of itself, and loves 
some being out of yourself, is exemplified in the love 
of a true husband for his wife, of a parent for his child, 
of a brother for a sister. All these loves give indica- 
tion of the second sphere of love, known as charity, 
good-will to the neighbor. This love is the means by 
which self-love is first overcome or destroyed. The 
individual is brought from self-love, through charity, 
to divine love, just as, in his knowledge, he is brought 
from the sphere of fact, through relation, to the abso- 
lute of being ; and hence, in the spheres of unfolding, 
the three degrees are necessarily absolute. Look at 
society. What is it but the aggregate of individuals 
composing it? Society, separate from individuals, is 



24: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

nothing. The love of society is only the love of 
the aggregate of individuals, Now, inasmuch as the 
love will belong either to the sphere of self-love, char- 
ity, or divine love, you will find that society will 
always be expressive of one of these three loves, never 
the third, though. We say of society, when we look 
to the principles that govern it in its administration, 
it is but the embodiment of the character and will of 
those constituting the government — it is but an ex- 
pression of the individuals composing it. Therefore* 
there are three spheres of government corresponding 
to the three spheres of the individual. For individuals 
living in the selfish nature, the government will be a 
government of force. The individual who has come 
out of this obeys the truth because he loves the truth. 
He does not feel the restraints of law that says, Thou 
shalt not steal, Thou shalt not lie. He does not know 
that there are any such laws in the State. He never 
felt any restraints. That individual is not in the sphere 
of self-love ; and the government over him is not a 
government of force. The government over him is a 
moral government, and has its place in his affection. 

Coming out of the government of force, man 
comes into the second, the Christian, or government 
of moral love, the government of charity. He then 
comes under the "new commandment I give unto you, 
that ye love one another." This second, or mediatorial 
sphere, is a moral one; hence this dispensation has 
been called the mediatorial dispensation. Hence I 
say there will be a second sphere of government, or 
second dispensation, as it was called ; but that dispen- 
sation is only the magnification of the individual. It 
is only the representation of society as one great indi- 
vidual. Then there is a prophecy of the third and 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 25 

perfect dispensation, which is called the millennial, 
the divine dispensation. When the second shall have 
performed its mediatorial work, when every individual 
will have been perfected in his moral nature, and shall 
be prepared to receive influx from the divine, then 
will arise the third dispensation of government, known 
as the millennial. If we refer to the forms of expres- 
sion by which it is designated, we will find it spoken 
of as taking place at the consummation of the age, at 
the end of the world, when that mediatorial age is 
through, when man is perfected in his moral nature, 
has put down all rule and power ; then Christ himself 
becomes subject to the Father, and God, the Divine, 
becomes all in all. That brings in the third dispensa- 
tion, the third sphere of government. These three 
spheres of love in man lay the foundation for the 
spheres exhibited in the Spirit-world. The govern- 
ments upon the earth, as well as in heaven, have their 
basis in man. Man is but the footings-up of all past 
ages ; and the Spiritual worlds have their foundation 
in him. Therefore, when you and I wish to study the 
Spirit-spheres, to know what constitutes a sphere and 
degree, we are not obliged to go out of ourselves and 
look into space ten, fifteen, or a thousand miles away. 
That is not the way to study the Spirit- world. The way 
is to go within and study the spheres of Spiritual being 
and affection. Individuals who are in either of these 
spheres are allied to one of the three spheres in the 
Spiritual world. The first is called the lowest, or dark 
sphere, the sphere of outer darkness, sometimes called 
the grave. The grave was called the place of dark- 
ness, where there was neither knowledge, or device, or 
wisdom, and was that to which allusion was made in 
saying, that those in the graves shall hear the voice 



26 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

of God, and shall live. It is sometimes called " Ge- 
henna." It corresponds to man's lustful nature, and 
represents the darkness and impurity of man under 
the influence of his lusts. That is what characterizes 
the first or lowest sphere of Spiritual being. The 
second sphere corresponds to man's intellectual or 
moral nature. It is called " Paradise," the place of 
happiness. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "To- 
day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Two days 
after, when Mary met him at the tomb, and offered to 
embrace him, he said, "Touch me not, for I have not 
yet ascended to my Father," 

He had been in Paradise — in the second sphere — 
and he told them that when he ascended to his Father 
they should see him no more. Both Gehenna and 
Paradise are spheres of Spirit-manifestation. Those 
who are charitable, and who do possess truly spiritual 
natures or affections, are in alliance with Paradise. 
Those in lust are in alliance with the sphere of lust or 
Gehenna. Those who have passed through, and ful- 
filled every impulse and every love in the second 
sphere, are said then to be brought into the divine 
presence. They no longer need a middle man between 
them and the Divine, because the Father can then 
speak directly to them. But so long as man is in the 
sphere of outer darkness or in Paradise, there is be- 
tween him and the Divine (and he must approach by 
a mediator) something that can take the things of the 
Father and make them manifest to him in the visible 
sense. But when man has come into the third sphere, 
there is no longer a middle man ; Christ himself be- 
comes subject to the Father, and God becomes all in all. 
Then comes the New Dispensation, or the Consum- 
mation of the Christian Age. The point to which 1 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 27 

wish to call your attention is, that the governments in 
earth, as well as in heaven, all have their basis in man 
— man being but the footings-up of all the ages of 
eternity. All is summed up in him; and he is the 
footings-up of all that preceded him ; hence all the 
Spiritual spheres have their basis in man. Therefore, 
when we wish to study the Spirit-spheres, we are not 
obliged to go out of ourselves and begin to look off 
into space ten, fifteen, or one thousand miles away. 
The way is to come within, and ascertain the sphere 
of Spiritual being, Spiritual perception and affection ; 
for all there is of the Spiritual universe is what has its 
basis in the individual Spirits who constitute the spheres. 
As the societies of earth are composed of the indi- 
viduals of earth, so are the spheres of the heavens 
composed of the individuals of the heavens, and the 
ruling nature of the different spheres is but the aggre- 
gate of the ruling loves of those composing those 
spheres. The laws of the spheres are but the laws of 
those composing the spheres. We are germinal uni- 
verses. "We are to be developed and unfolded con- 
sciously till the whole universe is translated into our 
consciousness. There is but one way to study the 
universe, and that is to come down into ourselves and 
study ourselves. This idea of looking out of ourselves, 
looking to any external method outside of our con- 
sciousness to find out what constitutes a Spiritual 
sphere or degree, is all fallacious. Spirits may come 
and rap, talk, and preach till doomsday ; if they can 
not find the elements within your consciousness out of 
which they can construct that Spiritual sphere, you 
ean not perceive or get any true idea of Spirit-spheres. 
It is as though I were born blind, and had never seen 
the light, and of course knew nothing of light, color, 



28 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

and darkness, and some individual should endeavor to 
make me believe that I was living in total darkness, 
when there would be no part of my being to which he 
could appeal to make me believe. There would be no 
possibility of conveying the thought to my mind, be- 
cause I should have no conscious experience of light, 
color, etc. Outward language could not give me the 
idea. Unless I have had the conscious experience to 
give me the idea out of which to construct the idea, 
the Spirits from the Spirit- world may come from every 
sphere and degree, and they can not convey to my 
mind an accurate idea of those spheres and degrees. 
If they would make me understand who God is, and 
what he is, they must find in me the elements out of 
which to construct that God. I say it is useless to 
look for information out of yourselves until you know 
what is in yourselves. The first lesson is to learn who 
and what am I. I propose to commence my investi- 
gations in each individual's own consciousness, starting 
with affirmations of that consciousness, and with defi- 
nitions about which we can not disagree, and then go 
forward step by step, demonstrating every point, and 
ascertaining the law of manifestation as that law is 
revealed in us. I do not ask Spirits, and do not wish 
them to come to tell me about the law that governs in 
their sphere. The truth is, we can not avoid the fact, 
that all communications that come understandingly, 
must come in the method that God has ordained, and 
that method is that it must be written by his law upon 
our consciousness ; and when it is written so, Spirits can 
come and point out the writing to us ; and that is the 
best they can do. I desire you to understand distinctly 
what will be the basis of my lectures, what will be the 
points I shall attempt to establish. I shall endeavor 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 29 

to prove Spiritualism. I shall not come to the raps 
for a considerable time. They are so far off, I shall 
not attempt to prove Spiritualism by rapping for some 
time yet. People say we have got beyond the rap- 
ping. The truth is, a large portion of the world have 
not yet got to the raps. They are not yet able to ap- 
preciate the raps. We must make considerable prog- 
ress before we can get the philosophy of the raps. 
We have much to learn yet before we can get the full 
benefit of a simple sound, even though it be not ac- 
companied by much intelligence. The first lesson I 
shall attempt to teach — pardon me for assuming to be 
a teacher, I will be a pupil at any time — is how to 
study and know yourselves ; how to ascertain the laws 
of your being, action, and manifestation ; how to de- 
termine what is and what is not spiritual in you ; how 
to determine whether you are under Spirit-influence 
or not — for there are laws by which all these things 
can be determined. In my investigation I shall per- 
haps be able to determine where that terrible creature, 
Jack, the Giant-killer, the Odylic force, resides, and 
show what it can and what it can not do. And I 
promise, too, in the face and eyes of all theorizers who 
believe that the Spiritual manifestations are traceable 
to this force, and to the satisfaction of everybody else, 
to demonstrate that it is not competent to produce 
them. I will demonstrate it according to President 
Mahan's hypothesis. I will show by every known 
law of nature that the power exerted at the brain's 
center, in a single instance he has given, was equal to 
a thousand steam-engines of a million horse-power at 
the distance of five feet from the brain. But that will 
merely come in as collateral when I consider the ob- 
jections offered to our theory. I will endeavor to 



30 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

consider every objection which any objector has pro- 
posed to bring forward. I do not stand here to boast, 
but what I speak is to me absolute. I stand here fear- 
lessly, and invite all classes of minds to raise any ob- 
jection they can to the Spiritual theory ; and I bind 
myself to answer them instanter, or confess my ina- 
bility to do so. The invitation commences now, and 
extends to every moment I am in the city. 

In my next lecture I shall begin with the question 
of Spirit-spheres, and endeavor to unfold to the con- 
sciousness of each of you the evidence of the existence 
of a first sphere, from which you will all do well to es- 
cape ; and shall then proceed to prove the existence 
of other spheres, namely, the second, or relational 
sphere, and a third, or divine sphere. I invite skeptics 
and atheists in particular to be particularly captious. 



THE SPHERE OF LUST. 

Man possesses three natures — the animal or sensuous 
nature, the intellectual and moral nature, and the di- 
vine nature. Mind, in whatever department it is 
manifested, possesses two qualities — perception and 
affection, and understanding and love ; or, when under- 
standing is united with true affection, wisdom and 
love. I have heretofore said, that since man, in the 
lowest department of his being, is animal in his char- 
acter, possessing the faculty of perceiving facts and 
phenomena, that faculty was the perceptive part of his 
animal being which embraces self-love, or a desire 
after self- gratification. That portion of the mind which 
pertains to the second part of man's nature was de- 
scribed as being that which investigates the laws and 
relations of things, inquires into what relates to that 
department of nature called the scientific, and studies 
that which relates to man and society. What is called 
the moral department of man's being is that which re- 
lates to the affectional part of his nature, and which is 
called moral love or charity. That which pertains to 
the divine or absolute of man's being was said to em- 
brace the religious element in him ; through which 
department the Infinite, as the absolute of being and 
of affection, is to be revealed to the mind. The love 



32 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

characterizing this department was described as divine 
love — the love of the Divine Being. The first love is 
objective in self, the second is objective in neighbor, 
and the third is subjective in God. Thus, then, was 
given the division of that department of mind pertain- 
ing to man's perception and affection. 

I am now to commence with the first — man in the 
lowest department of his perception and affection, to 
show you its nature, and its presence in him, in so- 
ciety, in government, and in the Spirit-world. If we 
would learn the laws that govern in that sphere of the 
Spirit-world called outer darkness, we need only learn 
the laws that govern in the sphere of outer darkness 
which is in man, and which is caused by man to exist 
in society. A singular idea has obtained, that this 
lower animal nature derives its quality from the physi- 
cal body we carry about with us ; and that when we 
come to be separated from it, we shall no longer pos- 
sess any of that nature ; as though this earthy body 
was the foundation of perception or affection — as 
though the instrument were the cause — as though this 
body, which we temporarily inhabit, exercised more 
control over us than the mind ! 

I propose first, then, to inquire how much influence 
the body exercises upon the mind, and how much in- 
fluence the mind exercises upon the body, so that we 
may arrive at something like an accurate conclusion 
as to what our condition will be beyond the grave ; for 
if we know how much is to be subtracted, at death, 
from our animal natures, we can know how much of 
that nature remains after we have passed beyond the 
influence of these material bodies. My first position 
is this : The manifestation of impulse in finite beings 
rises out of the relation which one finite being sustains 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 33 

to another. There is no impulse that does not grow 
out of this relation ; and the impulse is according to 
the nature and character of that relation. In the di- 
vine order, if my body, as a physical and a finite exist- 
ence, did not sustain any relation, it would be subject 
to no impulse ; therefore, whenever I perceive an im- 
pulse arising within me, I am informed thereby that I 
sustain a certain relation to something, and that if I 
would become truly wise in controlling that impulse, 
I must learn what that relation is. I might begin 
back of mind or conscious being to show how uniform 
this law is in the material or unconscious world, as 
that the influence between the earth and the sun arises 
out of a certain relation existing between them, and 
that if you change or destroy that relation, you change 
or destroy that influence. But I will illustrate this 
truth by reference to a conscious being. If man could 
be isolated from all laws, he would be a very different 
being from what he now is, although he might retain 
the same constitution which he now possesses ; be- 
cause he could not then come into certain relations 
which are necessary, in order to have revealed within 
him certain affections. I will take, for instance, the 
conjugal relation. It is the nearest the Divine. It is 
the first-begotten relation below the Infinite. Until a 
man and woman come into the true conjugal relation, 
they can not experience that love known as conjugal 
love. Till then it can not be begotten in them. They 
may conjecture they know what it is, but until that 
true relation is established between them, they can 
never have an adequate conception of it — can never 
know what it is to become so oblivious in another as 
the true wife does in the husband, or the true husband 
does in the wife ; nor can they, like the true husband 

2* 



34: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

and wife, experience that perfect harmony of soul, or 
listen to that sweet spiritual music within, till they 
have entered this relation, which alone can fit them 
for a proper conjugal union. The law exists, and the 
conditions exist ; but man must place himself, and wo- 
man must place herself, within the sphere of the law 
and the conditions, or they can not experience the 
benefit to be derived from them. So with the parental 
relation. 'No woman can know what maternal love is 
till she becomes a mother. Is it not so, mothers ? 
People may conjecture that they know what it is, and 
suppose it to be a pure and friendly love-feeling exist- 
ing between mother and child ; but they can have no 
adequate conception of the deep tenderness and holi- 
ness of maternal love — their idea of it does not begin 
to reach down into the almost infinite depths of that 
holy love. There is no possible way for an individual 
to know what maternal love is, but to come into the 
maternal relation. That is the way God reveals it in 
the soul. The reason is, that the true maternal im- 
pulse in the finite is the manifestation of the Divine 
in the finite sphere, and this manifestation can only be 
made in an individual when that individual comes 
into the sphere where the Infinite can confer that 
blessing. The same is true with reference to paternal, 
fraternal, filial, and social love : they all depend for 
their development upon those in whom they are man- 
ifested coming into the true relation which gives birth 
to them. 

The same law holds good when applied to the rela- 
tions existing between the body and the spirit. My 
body can not be nourished so as to become an instru- 
ment of individualizing in me an immortal spirit, un- 
less it be sustained by those things necessary to become 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 35 

a part of its organism. I have needs, as an immortal 
being, which must be supplied, or I perish; and since 
those needs exist, they must have some means of mani- 
festing themselves to me ; and one of the means em- 
ployed for that purpose is the feeling of hunger. A 
desire for food proclaims a need of my wasting body. 
The needed material can then be taken into it to build 
it up and fit it for its holy mission of being an instru- 
ment in elaborating an immortal spirit. So, likewise, 
thirst is the voice of God proclaiming a need of my 
body, and my spirit is induced to seek for that which 
shall supply the demand of a divine impulse originat- 
ing in that plane. So it is in regard to all other needs 
of the body calling upon the spirit for gratification. 
The impulses, then, pertaining to this body have not 
their origin in this body, but only in the relation which 
this body sustains to my spirit; and when the spirit 
has fulfilled its duty of supplying the needs of the 
body, the demand ceases. When, being hungry, I 
have appropriated the proper quantity of food, the de- 
sire for food ceases. It is so respecting every other 
need — when it is supplied, the demand ceases, and the 
individual continues to be satisfied till the demand is 
again created. By studying the needs of the body, and 
making yourselves acquainted with its condition as far 
as it relates to the spirit, you may learn exactly how 
much influence, truly and properly, it exerts upon 
your spirit ; but when you look beyond the needs of 
the body, and find impulses asking for more, you may 
be certain that you are finding impulses which do not 
pertain to your body. Though they may lay hold of 
your body and stimulate it to action and administer 
to its gratification, yet they do not arise out of it, but 
out of some neglected need. Such impulses are the 



36 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

voice of God calling your attention to some need which 
you have forgotten or neglected, and they will not per- 
mit you to rest till you discover what that need is and 
supply it. I will illustrate this point. 

Although man in the lower department of his nature 
is animal, he is nevertheless something more than an 
animal in the activities of his nature. The highest 
impulse of the animal is to provide for and protect its 
perishable mortal structure, and he has no immortal 
spirit to provide for in the future. He is content when 
the needs of the body are supplied. Did you never 
notice how content and unconcerned are the horse and 
dog when their demand for food is supplied? Young 
animals and young children, in their play, are supply- 
ing one of the needs of their body. But when the 
children have passed from childhood, desires of that 
kind cease, if they become properly developed men 
and women, and others take their place ; while the 
animal, whenever the needs of his animal nature are 
supplied, is satisfied. Consequently, you do not see 
dissipated animals. Did you ever think of that? 
Animals do not get drunk, nor seek for gratification in 
any such unnatural channel. Animals are true to 
nature and to God. They can not have thoughts and 
desires that pertain to the undying spirit, their highest 
nature being merely animal. Were man as true to all 
the needs of his being as is the animal to the needs of 
his animal nature, he would not be the discontented, 
unhappy, and lustful being he now is. But in conse- 
quence of having to supply the needs of a higher 
nature, he finds himself far from being as contented as 
the brute, whose animal wants are all provided for. 

There are spiritual needs pertaining to his under- 
standing and affections which are entirely overlooked 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 3? 

or neglected by him, whose demands are as imperative 
as are the demands of the animal nature. The demands 
of his intellectual and moral nature cause him to feel 
the lack of something within which destroys his rest 
and quiet. He seeks to satisfy this lack by gratifying 
his sensuous appetites and passions. Thus man runs 
into vice, and becomes sinful. Were it not for his 
immortal thirsting for the water of life, he never would 
be a wicked, lustful being ; or if he would supply the 
demands of that thirst, he never would be discontented 
or lustful. 

Now let us make the distinction between the lustful 
and the divine impulse, that you may better understand 
what I mean by the sphere to which I am calling your 
attention. "We all can tell the difference by appealing 
to our own consciousness. The divine impulse informs 
us of a need, and leads us to seek to supply it. The 
Infinite only speaks of needs, and leads man to supply 
them, that he may grow up into a perfect being. 
Every impulse in man, from the lowest to the highest 
nature, must be attended to, in order to render him 
perfect. The true impulse is one that promotes indi- 
vidual happiness and contentment. 

When the infant, in consequence of this impulse, 
feels the sense of hunger calling for food, and such 
food as its infantile nature requires, it cries ; but the 
supply of that demand is only necessary to cause it to 
cease its crying. This is because the child is free from 
those lusts which attach to persons advanced in years. 
" Of such is the kingdom of heaven." The child does 
not lust after things that shall gratify or tickle its palate ; 
it only seeks for those things which it needs ; and when 
they are supplied, it ceases calling for more. But with 
the advance of age it learns of lustful parents, or by 



38 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

being acted upon by lustful influences, to seek grati- 
fication through lust, while in its original unperverted 
state it knows no impulses but those which are natural, 
and, consequently, it obeys the true and divine law. 

Without stopping to inquire into the origin of lust, 
I may say that it originates in man's ignorance, neces- 
sarily. If you recollect the figure in the parable of 
the Garden of Eden, you remember that the sin com- 
mitted by Eve was eating of the tree of knowledge 
of good and evil. That is where we all eat. But 
I do not propose to dwell upon the nature and 
origin of this lust in man, but merely to speak of it as 
being that which characterizes him in his lowest sphere 
of being. It brings him into antagonism with his 
neighbor and God. It is that which begets in him so 
much crime, and which brings ruin upon the world. 
That is lust which leads him to seek after self-gratifi- 
cation irrespective of any need, while the true impulse 
only leads him to seek to supply those things which 
are really needed. The impulse belonging to the lower 
sphere may be characterized as lust. The idea which 
obtains so generally in society, that lust belongs only 
to animal, sensual, or sexual desires, is, therefore, 
erroneous. 

Man may seek gratification in every plane of his 
being ; not only in what he eats and drinks, but also 
in the intellectual plane. He may seek to gratify a 
vain curiosity. When he feels restless, he goes off 
searching after amusement. Time hangs heavy on his 
soul. There is a perishing need calling for action, and 
he knows not whence it comes, and he seeks to "kill" 
this time by amusement or otherwise. This is lusting, 
not in the animal sense, but in the intellectual sense. 
He may also lust in the moral plane. What are called 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 39 

friendships in the world, are distinguished by lusts. 
Tou know how the world selects its friends : it se- 
lects them according to the pleasure it expects to 
derive from them. Is it not so ? Does not the selfish 
man and woman select friends with reference to the 
enjoyment they expect to derive from their association 
with them ? And are they not most constant in their 
attention to those who are most successful in adminis- 
tering to their enjoyment? Look at this, each of you. 
Look over the list of your friends, and tell me really 
what is the basis of your friendship. You love your 
friends, you say. "Why do you love them? You love 
to be with them. Why? You seek their society. 
"Why ? Some of your friends you love best. Tell me 
why it is that you love them best. You say they are 
the most agreeable to you, and hence you love to be 
with them. Is that the highest basis? If so, when 
they cease to administer to your gratification, what 
relation will you hold to them then ? It is said that 
" prosperity makes friends, and adversity tries them." 
They can make it pleasant for us when they are with 
us, and in prosperity ; but when adversity comes, their 
position is not cpite high enough for us ; and we prefer 
those differently conditioned. This remark is in ac- 
cordance with the statement, that the friendship of the 
world is based upon the principle of gratifying our- 
selves. In making your morning calls, you sometimes 
visit your friends from a sense of duty ; and are 
influenced by the fear that they will find fault with you 
if you follow your feelings in the matter, and go where 
you will derive the greatest amount of pleasure. 

When you think these friends are laboring to your 
disadvantage, then your love for them soon cools off. 
They don't answer your purpose. Thus, trifling cir- 



40 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

cumstances make foes of friends. You may test the 
friendship you think you have for individuals. If a 
person's friendship seems to be strong, and he can not 
enjoy his friendship for another, unless in that other's 
society, and he desires to be in the presence of that 
person, so that he can hear his voice and feel his per- 
sonal influence, and if, when separated from that friend 
he is disquieted and unhappy, very much as is the person 
who uses strong drink or tobacco, and is deprived of his 
beer, or rum, or tobacco — his friendship has a low basis. 
But if one has a true friendship, which is high, and 
holy, and spiritual, one where his whole confidence 
is merged in that friend, he trusts him with his heart 
and most secret thoughts, and knows without doubt 
that he can not be betrayed by that friend ; and they 
hold constant spiritual communion with each other, no 
matter how far apart — there is a concord of spiritual 
communion between them that enables them to enjoy 
each others society when separated by hundreds of 
miles. True friendship is of the spiritual kind that 
does not regard so gross and physical a friendship as 
the friendship of the world. I wish to call your at- 
tention to the presence of this impulse in you, because 
perhaps you have not looked at the subject in this 
light. 

A word to husbands and wives. A young man, 
when he contemplates getting married, thinks he will 
get a wife that will make him very happy. One young 
man thinks he would like a wife who will be econom- 
ical; another, one who would make a good house- 
keeper ; and another, an intellectual companion ; so 
they select not so much with reference to the wife, as 
to the use of the wife. And ladies, on the other hand, 
select husbands who they think will provide them a 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 41 

good home, afford them protection, etc. ; they want a 
husband for his use ; so the union between the man 
and woman is often based upon the idea of use, and 
not upon their fitness for companions ; and hence their 
love for each other continues so long as the use con- 
tinues, and no longer. If a man who desires a good 
housekeeper finds that his wife is not one, or if a hus- 
band finds his wife faulty in any other important par- 
ticular, just in proportion as she proves faulty his love 
for her is abated ; and at the end of twenty-eight days 
— the period denominated the " honey-moon" — he finds 
he does not love her near as well as he supposed ; and 
that what he supposed was love, was, after all, but a 
desire after gratification — that he was loving self in- 
stead of his wife. 

Man may be lustful in his religion as well as in his 
moral relations. He may mistake what he supposes to 
be the love of God for the love of the use of God. 
He expects God is going to make him eternally happy, 
and bestow upon him unending enjoyment, and for 
this reason he shouts and praises him, and calls it 
loving God. He does not see that God is so much 
better than anybody else ; but he has become satisfied 
that God means well, and will bless him ; and he honors 
him for these things. Hence his seeking after relig- 
ion that he may may make himself happy and save 
himself from suffering is as lustful and selfish as seek- 
ing after something good to eat or drink, making self- 
gratification the object of his search. The great dif- 
ficulty, my friends, with popular religion is, that it is 
only a religious expression of lust. That it has not 
beaten swords into plowshares and spears into pru- 
ning-hooks, and taught people to learn war no more, 
is because it has failed to adopt the means by which 



42 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

the world can be made pure and happy. Hence the 
religious man may be as selfish as the miserly man, 
and yet think he is so much like God that he is going 
to be saved. But it is not religion that he loves; it is 
only the use of religion. Satisfy him that God is not 
going to benefit him, but that he is going to damn 
him, and he will curse him bravely. I ask everybody 
to look at this. 

It is claimed, as I have already remarked, that the 
impulse of lust belongs to the body, and does not grow 
out of the relation which the mind sustains to the 
body. What need, I ask, did Alexander's body feel, 
which demanded that he should have all the kings and 
potentates of earth on their knees before him? What 
did he want of the wealth of the earth? and what 
made him weep because there was not another w r orld 
to conquer ? Was it his body? I tell you, E"ay ; there 
were perishing needs within him that would not give 
him rest till they were supplied ; and, ignorant of the 
nature of those needs, he sought to supply them by 
the gratification of his selfish nature. Not heeding 
the voice of God, he took his sword and rushed upon 
mankind, and made that the balm for the healing of 
his restless spirit; and when he had conquered the 
world, and had it at his command, he was more mis- 
erable than before ; simply because he had entered 
farther into the broad road leading to destruction and 
death. He felt the bitter agony of soul consequent 
upon a departure from the straight and narrow path. 
This lust was not the lust of his body — it was the lust 
of the spirit. It was a desire for self-gratification 
that arose, because the needs existing in consequence 
of neglecting the demands of the spirit were not sup- 
plied. He sought gratification in a way in which he 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 43 

thought he could obtain it ; but he was sadly disap- 
pointed in the result. 

The miser, in every age, has been trying to obtain 
happiness by getting gold. A French miser, who, 
like a great mass of mankind, thought wealth would 
make him happy, sought for it, and was so successful 
as to obtain it. He possessed his untold millions, and 
yet desired more ; and he found that the more he pos- 
sessed the more he desired. He also perceived that 
his wealth did not gratify his wants. The moment he 
possessed it, he found he could not take care of it to 
his liking. He could not trust it in banks, for the 
banks might break ; and he did not like to invest it in 
stocks, for stocks were liable to depreciate in value; so 
he made up his mind that he would convert it into 
money, and keep it continually in his sight ; and ac- 
cordingly he had it placed in heaps, and stood and 
watched it. But then he was unable to sleep because 
he feared burglars and assassins, whose plottings for 
his life and money constantly rung in his ear. As he 
stood and watched those shining heaps, he reflected 
that although he had obtained wealth he had derived 
no satisfaction from it, but that every dollar added 
to his possessions added a new pang to his sorrows ; 
and he determined to kill himself, and accordingly 
proceeded to the banks of the river Seine, for the 
purpose of drowning himself. Upon arriving at the 
river's bank, happening to put his hand in his pocket, 
he found four guineas. Thinking they would there- 
after be of no use to him, he concluded that rather 
than have them lost, he would, before he sought his 
watery grave, go and find some needy person to whom 
he might give the money. He accordingly went to a 
miserable hovel close by. As he approached it, he 



44 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

heard cries of agony and distress within. He entered, 
when he beheld a most heart-rending sight. There 
lay a poor, sick, distressed widow on a pallet of straw, 
with a few rags for covering ; and there were four 
hungry, dirty, naked children crying for bread, while 
the sick mother had no bread for them, or the means 
of obtaining any. The miser stepped up to the bed, 
and placed the four strayed guineas in her hand, and 
told her they were hers. She looked wildly at the 
money, and then at the giver, and then at the guineas 
again. She seized his hand, pressed it, blessed him, 
and called upon God to bless him ; and the children 
thanked him. The thanks, and blessings, and tears 
which were showered upon that miser's heart caused it 
to break, and for the first time in his life a pulsation 
of pleasure, delight, and satisfaction beat through 
his soul, and as he stood and witnessed the joy, and 
thankfulness, and hope of that family he exclaimed, 
"What! is happiness so cheap? then I will be hap- 
py." Then he went away, not to drown himself in the 
Seine, but to seek out other similar cases of suffering ; 
and after that he had no occasion to kill himself, for 
he had found what was the canker that had so long 
been gnawing upon his heart. He found that he pos- 
sessed a moral nature that had needs, and that that 
nature was calling upon him to perform certain moral 
duties ; and that the moment he obeyed the demands 
of that nature, he silenced that clamoring within, 
which had all his life long rendered him unhappy 
and discontented ; and at a good old age he testified 
that the way to be happy was to be good and useful. 

I think his experience will be yours and mine. We 
talk about wanting pleasure, and we seek it in amuse- 
ments and at theaters, routs, and balls ; and I tell you 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 45 

that this feeling arises from the same cause as the miser's 
misery. We have hungerings and thirstings of soul which 
we are required to satisfy, and except we comply with 
these requirements we will be disquieted. If those of you 
who love the opera, the theater, etc., will go forth and 
tread these streets, and find out the objects of need — 
those worthy of aid — and visit them, and administer 
to their comfort, you will no longer feel the need of 
theaters, routs, and balls; and you will find greater 
satisfaction in such a course than these amusements can 
afford. Try the experiment, and I will guarantee you 
will be successful. That this city, like all great cities, 
is pursuing after pleasure, as the paramount object to 
be attained, is because their souls are hungering and 
thirsting after that food necessary to build them up 
into the stature of perfect men and women. This 
makes time seem cruel, and hang heavy upon them ; 
and, like the victim who seeks to drown his sorrow in 
the cup, they seek to fill up the long hours in dissipa- 
tion. To return to my subject. 

This sphere of lust, I say, then, does not arise from 
the body, nor from the influence of the body on the 
soul. It arises from our neglect of our spiritual needs. 
This lust, this desire proclaims a divine life within, 
which demands activity corresponding to our real 
natures ; and we can never get peace and happiness 
until those real demands of our natures are sup- 
plied. I appeal to all pleasure-seekers whether this 
is not true. You have heard it argued whether there 
be not more pleasure in anticipation than in participa- 
tion. The world's pleasures are always in the future, 
never in the present. The man or the woman of the 
world is never satisfied with present conditions or 
present attainments. Why not? Because the man 



46 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

and the woman of the world are not attending to the 
present needs of the spiritual nature. The finite man 
ought to understand that he lives only in the present. 
God the Infinite only belongs to the future. Man's 
needs pertain to to-day. His physical, moral, and in- 
tellectual needs are all bearing upon the present, and 
not the future. The past is his schoolmaster, to teach 
him how to be ready to enjoy the future. It is to-day 
that we should take thought for ; hence the divine say- 
ing of the man of Nazereth — "Take no thought for 
the morrow. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." 
If we look to the present, and supply the needs of the 
present, the future will take care of itself. The man 
seeking for religion thinks he wants it for the future, 
in order that he may die right ; but a man does not 
want religion to die by. There will be no trouble 
about his dying if he only lives right. I do not care 
for religion for the sake of having it to die by. Only 
give me its living benefits, and you are welcome to its 
dying benefits. This shows the false estimate the world 
sets upon religion. 

I desire to impress upon your minds this principle, 
that when you look down to the real basis of selfish- 
ness and lust, you will find that they do not originate 
in the body, but that they pertain to the spiritual 
being. There are certain needs, however, which do 
grow out of the physical body ; but when the spirit is 
separated from the body, it no longer feels these phys- 
ical demands ; for instance, it will no longer feel the 
need of food, experience thirst, or be susceptible to the 
effects of the elements — heat and cold — as is the phys- 
ical nature ; but that which administers to the demands 
of the mind, independent of the body, belongs to the 
mind. And when you enter the Spirit-world, if you 



SPIRITUALISM 2! .PLAINED. 47 

take truth with you, you will also take falsehood — if 
you carry purity with you, so you will impurity — if 
justice goes with you to that sphere, so will injustice. 
Isow think of society in its individual action, social, 
governmental, and religious action, and tell me 
whether the world, or the individuals of the world, 
are governed by the true, divine impulse? Are they 
searching after the true needs of the body and mind, 
or after pleasure and self-gratification ? And in your 
activity, which controls? — a sense of need, or a desire 
after gratification? You settle this question for your- 
selves, and I will settle it for myself. If you are under 
the rule, and in the sphere, of lust, you belong to the 
sphere of outer darkness ; and if you are under the rule 
of charity, you belong to the second sphere or Spirit- 
ual Paradise. His servants you are to whom you yield 
yourselves servants to obey. It is for you to say whom 
you will obey. 

ISTow this earthly sphere is the lowest and darkest 
sphere. Its influences are dark and defiling. In this 
sphere men are swallowed up in worldly matters, and 
striving to gratify self. 

But when a separation takes place between the mind 
and the body, we shall come into new relations, al- 
though we shall not at once change our thoughts, feel- 
ings, and affections, and shall recognize ourselves. 
Our lusts and self-love will follow us to the Spirit- 
world. There is not, as many seem to suppose, a 
miraculous process, by which man is changed while 
passing through the dark valley of shadows. If a 
change takes place in him in the Spirit-world, it must 
be in accordance with the same divine law which gov- 
erns him in this sphere of existence. If you will but 
exercise your reasoning faculties on this point, you will 



48 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

see that it should and must be so. When we come to 
understand the Spirit-world, we shall find that in our 
Father's house there is a mansion suited to those who 
seek after self-gratification, and that that world, like 
this, is subdivided into many minor spheres, corre- 
sponding to the various grades of development in the 
different spheres of mind. There are physical spheres, 
intellectual spheres, moral spheres, and religious 
spheres, as there are in this world ; and they are very 
much of the same description as those here, because 
they proceed from the same basis. Individuals passing 
from this sphere to that, will fashion out of the ma- 
terials which their own conscious elements furnish the 
same kind of a Deity there that they worshiped here. 
As in New York city there are many degrees of ad- 
vancement in these different departments— one man 
seeking to gratify his lusts through appetite, and 
another man in some other way ; and as you can find 
here every sphere, except the divine sphere (I doubt 
whether you can find that), so in the Spiritual world 
you will find all these different degrees of advance- 
ment, each occupying its own appropriate sphere. 

Here is one man who seeks gratification, it may be, 
in strong drink, and he worships the bowl; another 
seeks it in food, and hence becomes an epicure, and 
worships the stomach ; another, it may be, seeks grati- 
fication in practicing certain games or tricks, or fol- 
lowing after some amusement; while another seeks 
gratification in sexual indulgences. So you may go 
on and enumerate the endless variety of channels in 
which men seek to gratify their selfish desires ; and it 
will be found that those in the same pursuit affinitize 
with one another — drunkards with drunkards, etc. — 
every sphere delighting in that which corresponds to 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 49 

the desires of those who compose it. So in the Spirit- 
world ; the Spirit who was a drunkard here seeks grat- 
ification in the same direction that he did on earth ; 
the seeker of pleasure there still has a love for the 
theater, routs, and balls ; the libertine still delights in 
miserable songs he was accustomed to hear. 

Governments, institutions, and associations and re- 
lations, whether social, spiritual, or otherwise, are 
expressions of what are the loves and delights of 
the soul of man. Therefore, in all institutions, you 
will find displayed the characters of those who found- 
ed them. The government of any country is but the 
child of the ruling mind or minds of that country. 
Then, if we wish to understand the dark spheres in the 
Spiritual world, we have only to drop the body and 
have our spiritual eyes opened, when we will see that 
there exist there all the phases of society that we find 
here. The cause of this arises from the sphere of 
lust. You have there your gambliDg Spirits, your 
drinking Spirits, your lustful Spirits, etc. And how 
do these poor creatures live there ? That is the next 
question. "What do they do to gratify their desires ? 
I will tell you. You understand it to be a psycholog- 
ical principle, that when two men are brought into 
sympathy, or into rapport with each other (one being 
positive and the other negative), feelings, sensations, 
and desires can be communicated from one to the 
other. To give an illustration : You have seen, in 
mesmerism, an exhibition of mind separated from the 
influences of the body. When the mind is thus sepa- 
rated, and this mesmeric sympathy is established be- 
tween the subject and the operator, any surgical 
operation can be performed upon the subject without 
giving him pain, because his being of sensation is re- 

3 



50 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

moved from his body ; but you can not pull the hair 
of the operator, or hurt his finger, or otherwise give 
him pain, without giving pain to the subject. What- 
ever the operator enjoys or suffers, the subject also 
enjoys and suffers. Now it is in accordance with this 
principle that Spirits of the other world gratify their 
desires. Spirits who visit this world are obliged to 
make use of, and come into rapport with, those who 
have appetites and desires similar to their own. If 
the mind is separated from its own body, it can expe- 
rience the sensations of another body with which it 
may come into rapport. On the same principle a good 
mind, or, if you please, the Divine Mind, can flow 
into the individual mind, and impart thought and 
sensation to that mind. Or a good Spirit can flow 
into a medium, and awaken sensations and thoughts 
in accordance with the law of action and re-action, be- 
coming negative or positive, according as he wishes to 
impart or receive influence. Here, then, is the means 
by which the Spirit is enabled to gratify its desires by 
visiting earth. Those Spirits who allow themselves to 
be influenced by their lusts are called tempting Spir- 
its, and they influence individuals on earth that they 
may make use of them as a means of gratifying these 
lusts. The same law is manifested by individuals in 
the body. It is not because Spirits wish to injure the 
bodies which they thus use, but because they desire 
self-gratification, and know of no other means of ob- 
taining it, except in this sphere of outer darkness. 
The lowest in this scale of unfolding corresponds to 
this lustful nature in man. Every affection in society 
that can affect societies of men has its representative 
in the individual man ; so that every subdivision of the 
sphere of lust has its representative in each individual; 



SPIEITUALISM EXPLAINED. 51 

and the question is whether he lives in one of these 
departments or another. If I am developed in the 
moral department, there I live, and love, and worship ; 
and when I pass to the Spirit-world, I go to a sphere 
corresponding to that ruling affection by which I am 
controlled. So it is in regard to any other sphere of 
unfolding, whether it be relational or absolute, or oth- 
erwise. Hence man himself determines his sphere. 
Take any man or woman you please, and let them be 
developed to any sphere, from the darkest sphere of 
lust to the purest sphere of love, and if there is any 
place in God's universe where they can find that which 
corresponds to that lust or love, they will find it. If 
there is any condition suited to make them happy, 
they will find it. If this were not so, the Spirit- world 
would be the worst hell imaginable. To compel a man 
to go where he has no affinity would be to inflict upon 
him one of the greatest punishments conceivable. Com- 
pel a lustful libertine to remain in a Methodist class- 
meeting, and shout and sing with the enthusiastic 
Methodists, and he would be extremely miserable — he 
could find many places where he would be infinitely 
more happy ; and in order to be happy, he would be 
obliged to go where he could find that which would 
correspond to his cast of mind. "We can determine 
where a man's God is when we ascertain what it is to 
which he will sacrifice every thing else. 

After having thus given the law governing this low- 
est sphere of the Spirit- world, which represents man in 
his undeveloped nature as an intellectual and moral 
being — we are qualified to comprehend that sphere, 
and understand that the same spheres of mind which 
belong to this belong also to the Spiritual world, and 
that undeveloped Spirits from that lust-sphere visit 



52 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

earth, or societies of earth, not for the purpose of re- 
deeming them, but for the purpose of seeking their 
own gratification. I have presented to you my views 
of that sphere as I understand it, and I shall be pre- 
pared, in my next lecture, to take up the second 
sphere, and tell you what constitutes it, and how 
it is that it becomes a mediatorial sphere — middle 
sphere. This second, or Spiritual sphere, is between 
the dark and light, or divine sphere. It is the means 
through which the lustful are brought out of their lusts 
to the divine. 



53 



THE SECOND, OR RELATIONAL SPHERE. 

The subject now to be considered is that of the 
second sphere of mind, both in its perceptions and 
affections. Our last discourse was upon what we de- 
nominated the first sphere, which was characterized as 
being a sphere of self-love or lusting after self-gratifi- 
cation. The individual in this sphere was described 
as being in the lowest department of his mind, and as 
allied in his affinities with the lowest pleasures of ex- 
istence. It was remarked that this plane of lust could 
be manifested as well in the intellectual, moral, and 
religious plane, as in the animal or physical plane. 
The criterion by which we determine whether it is 
selfishness is to inquire whether the motive prompt- 
ing to activity has for its object desire after gain. If 
that is the ruling impulse, then the individual's love is 
the love of self. Though the grossness of the lust may 
depend upon the direction given it, yet it is essentially 
the same, whether exercised in the moral, intellectual, 
or physical plane. An individual who sought the 
happiness of another without reference to his own in- 
terests was described as belonging to the second sphere. 
He would seek association by the affinity of his moral 
or second-sphere nature. 

"We meet with individuals in society who affirm that 



54: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

man is essentially selfish — that he can not conceive a 
wish which does not originate in a desire for self-gain. 
I have no doubt that the individuals making that 
affirmation are very honest in it, and speak from their 
own conscious experience. There are many such to 
be found in society, who know no higher love than 
self-love, and their highest benevolence is based upon 
selfishness. I doubt not that there are those who 
entertain such sentiments, but I utterly protest when 
such men attempt to speak for the Race. I will allow 
every person to speak for himself upon this point, and 
to ascertain if there are not some actions which have 
not this lustful basis ; and when we find that there are 
such actions arising within ourselves which are not 
contaminated with this selfish thought, and which go 
forth to seek expression out of ourselves, we may know 
that they do not belong to the first, but to the second 
sphere of action, I mean the sphere of relation, as sep- 
arate from the individual considered in his individual 
love or individual selfish impulse. I will give a few 
illustrations of this kind. 

Every individual coming under the divine impulses 
of the sphere of relation — I mean relation in its divine 
order — and living in forgetfulness of separate self, will 
experience some of the impulses which belong to that 
sphere. When the mother comes into the maternal 
relation and experiences the love of a mother for her 
child, she is ready to sacrifice the comforts and inter- 
ests of self for the welfare of that object that sustains 
that near and dear relation to her. I speak of the ma- 
ternal love as a representative of that love for another 
which is divorced from its lustful or selfish character 
— not based upon considerations of self-gain. We may 
desire the salvation of individuals on our own account, 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 55 

for our own enjoyment, and also from a love divorced 
from all considerations of self, which stands out holy, 
pure, and undefiled for a being outside of itself. The 
mother, in loving her child, experiences happiness ; 
and as she presses it to her bosom, and imprints upon its 
delicate cheek the maternal kiss, there is joy deep and 
unutterable awakened in that mother's bosom ; but she 
does not kiss the child that she may have the joy. It 
is not her joy and happiness that she seeks, but the 
comfort, happiness, and welfare of the child ; and in 
thus supplying that demand of her maternal nature, 
she feels the influx of the divine nature, saying, "Well 
done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faith- 
ful over a few things, I will make thee rnler over many 
things : enter into the joy of thy God." That is what 
God says to every mother who loves her babe from the 
true maternal feeling. So is it in the true relation be- 
tween husband and wife. I mean now the union in 
heaven, and not the union fixed up by society and its 
institutions — I speak of such hearts as God has joined 
together. When the true husband meets the true wife 
and surrenders all his manhood to the care and keep- 
ing of that wife, in full confidence and trust that she 
will receive it and not abuse it ; and when the wife in 
return gives all her womanhood to the care and fidel- 
ity of the trusting husband — when two such souls sur- 
render each to each the other's self, loving from an in- 
terior and divine harmony, then the joys of conjugal 
love are awakened, the true demands of each soul are 
supplied in the experience of those joys which can be 
found alone in that relation, and God speaks saying, 
"Well done," and breathes his divine blessing upon 
them. So it is in the fraternal relation. Where from 
the natural, constitutional harmony of soul existing 



56 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

between brothers, each being individualized upon a 
common moral plane, and loving the other with a pure 
and undefiled love, their love belongs to the second 
sphere. 

Where the individual loves his neighbor as himself, 
he would as soon sacrifice his own interest as that of 
his neighbor, and would as soon be unjust to himself, 
nay, sooner be unjust to himself, than to his neighbor. 
He loves that neighbor with a pure heart, loves him 
as a manifestation of his divine Fathers Love, "Will, 
and Wisdom, and seeks to harmonize his own being 
with him in all his relations. He can not see a brother, 
however weak, crushed, without seeing himself crushed 
in that brother. When he loves a brother with that 
pure, unselfish love — when the common heart of hu. 
manity abides in his breast, he comes into the true 
plane of charity ; for charity is that which seeketh not 
her own. The motive that prompts him is not self-gain. 
It is the desire to do good unto others that actuates 
him. The quality of charity is to suffer long, not to 
be envious, not to be easily provoked, not to be puffed 
up, or behave itself unseemly ; but in all things to be 
true and faithful, and kind to everybody. The man or 
woman possessed of this love, whose whole being and 
activity is directed in the sphere of relation to man, to 
society, to the world, belongs to what I call the second 
sphere, and gives evidence that he or she has risen 
above the lustful plane which seeketh its own, and 
which loves to gratify its passion, desires, and appe- 
tites, in one form or another, and that he or she is 
loving in harmony with God, and wills and acts in ac- 
cordance with the divine impulses. 

Look abroad into society, look at the love of the 
world, and see how many there are who love their 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. * 57 

neighbor with an unselfish love — how many are so 
careful to be exactly just with their neighbor as they 
are careful to have their neighbor be exactly just to 
them. There are many who watch the scale to see if 
it preponderates in their favor ; and if the merchant 
gives good weight, they speak well of him ; but if he 
does not give good weight, they are very ready to speak 
ill of him. When you come to see how much better 
they love to have justice done to them than they love 
to do justice to others, you have an indication that 
the lustful nature is somewhat alive and active in their 
breast. The individual who is conscious that his de- 
sire is earnestly to be just, will be as careful not to do 
an injustice to his neighbor as he would be cautious to 
avoid an injury to himself — will no sooner circulate 
defamatory remarks against his neighbor than he would 
defame himself. When you find an individual thus 
acting, you may be certain that he has risen from the 
first plane and is entering the second. But I am sorry 
to say that in the vast majority of cases you will find 
lust lamentably present. I called your attention to 
this in my last lecture, showing you how it was mani- 
fested in almost every sphere of life, even in perform- 
ing the duties of a father, brother, husband, or wife. 
In the majority of cases man and society are loved for 
their uses. 

When it is desired to ascertain whether we belong to 
the first or the second sphere — to the sphere of Gehenna 
or Paradise — we need only to determine the quality of 
the affection that rules in us, to see whether it be look- 
ing mainly to our own gain, or whether we rise above 
self and go out to seek the well-being of man. We some- 
times mistake, thinking that we love a man himself, 
when we love his influence or society, because by it 



58 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

we think we can be elevated in our social condition. 
"We ought, therefore, to be careful in t^ing ourselves 
to know to which plane of affection we belong, lest 
some of these considerations outside of the individual 
influence us, lest that we mistake for love that which, 
proved by the true standard, will appear to be selfish- 
ness and lust. 

When one possesses a love for the well-being of all, 
he is willing to contribute liberally and freely of his 
strength and talent for the redemption of all, and has 
an unwillingness to be found at any time as the repre- 
sentative of that idea which would tend to degrade or 
crush any human being. There is no being so low in 
the scale of humanity as to be beneath his efforts to 
raise him up ; and if the tyrant should stand upon the 
neck of the weak, his impulse is to push that tyrant 
off and break away the captive's chains, because he 
can not see his brother fettered without feeling fettered 
himself — can not see the humblest human being out- 
lawed without seeing all humanity insulted. The in- 
dividual who has not seen enough of the dignity of the 
nature of humanity to fulfill the duty he owes to uni- 
versal humanity, has not yet come to the true plane 
of charity, is not qualified to occupy a high position 
in this second sphere. 

I might illustrate in a variety of ways how it is that 
man apologizes to himself for being selfish. Here is a 
constitution, and there a law, and there a public senti- 
ment demanding that a human being should be crush- 
ed ; and he turns his back to humanity and God and 
bows to the Constitution. Such a man has not the 
love of humanity in his bosom ; he loves that which is 
respectable and strong, and which may be of service 
to him under particular circumstances. But the in- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 59 

dividual who can be a Judas and can sell the Lord in 
the shape of his brother — can betray him with a kiss 
and sell him for thirty pieces of silver, whatever may 
be his profession — belongs to the lowest grade of hu- 
manity. Here is a truth that every soul must affirm. 
It honors the man that honors humanity, and despises 
the man that despises humanity. 

When a man in his lustful nature will bring his 
whole soul to honor that sentiment, he is prepared to 
leave the first and enter the second sphere, which is 
expressive of the finite character of man as he comes 
into this charitable affection. This character in man 
is that which determines the second sphere in the 
world of Spirits. Man is a universe ; and if there is a 
hell in the universe, it is because it is in man ; and if 
there is a heaven, it is because there is a heaven in 
man. Those who are developed only in the sphere of 
outer darkness, and who from affinity love to associate 
together, will be found composing what is called the 
Outward Sphere. Do not now, by any means, asso- 
ciate the idea of sphere with that of place. The per- 
sons in this room are all together, so far as space is 
concerned, but so far as sentiment or sphere is con- 
cerned you may be at heaven-wide distances. While 
one is in rapportw\\h celestial affections, holding com- 
munion with the Divine Father, the other may be in 
rapport with Spiritual beings, holding a communion 
with the angels ; and a third may be in rapport with 
the infernal, holding communion with the spheres of 
lust. It is not a question of place, but simply a ques- 
tion of condition. If you and I are in the condition 
of lust in our affections and perceptions, if we associate 
with others in the same condition, heart thrills to heart, 
just as in the moral or divine sphere heart answers 



60 SPIKITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

to heart. Each in his own plane seeks that which is 
adapted to his own nature. I say, therefore, do not 
connect the idea of place with that of sphere. 

Man is a little universe — a microcosm. This sphere 
of lust is within him, from which the dark sphere of 
the Spiritual world is developed. Those who are in 
the sphere of lust on the earth respond to the inhab- 
itants of this dark sphere of the Spiritual world. So 
also in the Spiritual spheres is the development of man's 
relational love. Man in fulfilling his relational duties 
lays the foundation of the Spiritual Paradise. Thus 
man rises and dwells in different spheres according to 
the development of his affections. If we love our 
neighbor as such, and seek after the redemption of man 
on his own account, we become allied to that band of 
guardian angels whose mission it is to watch over him 
and to stimulate in him impulses to resist that which 
is evil and impure. We become guardian angels, and 
every effort we put forth for the redemption of our 
fellow-man elevates our own souls. Hence the remark 
of the poet: 

" Heart thrills to heart 
- Throughout the wide domain of heavenly life ; 
Each angel forms a chain which in God's throne "begins, 
And winds down to the lowest plane of earthly minds ; 
And only as each lifts his lower friend 
Can each into superior joys ascend." 

We are told that we must seek our salvation. That 
is bad advice. He that seeketh to save his life shall 
lose it. It is this very seeking to save ourselves that 
damns us and the race. It is the very selfish desire 
for salvation which allies us to the sphere of lust. The 
true spirit is to seek to save our fellow-man ; and as 
we can not save him except by adapting our ideas 
to his needs, we must, as instruments to his salvation, 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 01 

put away our lust. That effort will result in our own 
salvation. There is but one way to save ourselves, and 
that is by fitting ourselves as the instruments for the 
redemption of the world.. Laboring to redeem our out- 
cast and down-trodden brother and sister is the very 
best kind of labor to elevate ourselves, since it exer- 
cises in us the true love for our fellow-men. Thus it 
appears that it is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive. 

I may go out into the streets some cold morning, 
and seeing a beggar, stop and debate with myself 
whether he is worthy or not ; or for fear that I may re- 
fuse the right one, I may drop a sixpence in his hand. 
From such an act I will not receive a blessing. But 
if I (in forgetfulness of considerations of that kind, from 
the overflowings of a loving heart, from a sincere 
desire to do good to a fellow-man who is in need) give 
him alms, it is laying up treasure in heaven. I have 
placed it at my Father's disposal— have intrusted it to 
one of his messengers. 

We have a fashionable way of doing charities in this 
world. We do not like to be troubled with charities. 
We are willing to be taxed some— we are very gener- 
ous to give sometimes ; but then we do not want the 
trouble of finding the object, and bestowing it with 
that love, kindness, and sympathy of soul which car- 
ries more joy to the stricken heart than the poor pit- 
tance. He needs it as much as he does your other 
charities. But instead of taking this trouble, we raise 
contributions, appoint a committee, and go and drop 
our gifts by machinery here and there. If you will 
look up a poor sufferer some of these cold mornings, 
and give but a dime, with a blessing, you will not only 
cany joy into the heart of the suffering poor, but re- 



62 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

joicing into the Angel-spheres. In that way you must 
cast your bread upon the water, and you will find it 
after many days — will hear, eternally you will hear, 
the music of that poor sufferer's thankful heart. If 
you once in purity of soul, in the pure affection of 
your heart, go and bestow a kindness from a pure and 
fervent spirit, you will awaken a chord which will vi- 
brate harmoniously in your soul to all eternity. 

As man develops in himself a love of his fellow- 
man irrespective of exterior relation, but as a child of 
God, as possessing in his bosom the germ of immor- 
tality, and as endowed with a faculty of eternal un- 
folding in the eternal future, he comes into the sphere 
of true charity ; and when his work is faithfully done 
here, he will enter upon that reward which he has been 
laying up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust cor- 
rupts, and where thieves do not break through and 
steal. 

There is between the first and second spheres, speak- 
ing of them in the affectional sense, another sphere, 
called the intellectual sphere. Man as an intellectual 
being has loves or delights. The quality of the in- 
tellect, you are aware, is to investigate, to think. In- 
tellect of itself has no affection, no sympathy. It can 
be allied with vice or virtue. It can attend the mis- 
sionary in his labor or the pirate in his murderous work. 
It has of itself no conscience, no moral quality. 
Hence you will find that men may be highly intellect- 
ual and vicious or virtuous. Intellect can join upon 
vice or crime, and upon charity and virtue, and that, 
too, without experiencing antagonism from such union. 
Man may be developed intellectually without affecting 
particularly his moral character. Intellect's particular 
mission is to investigate that which addresses the per- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 63 

ception. It can join upon the sphere of lust or the 
sphere of charity. Were it not for this, the selfish and 
charitable natures could not unite in man, and there 
would be such an antagonism in the individual, he 
could not be possibly developed from the plane of his 
lustful nature to the plane of his moral nature. In- 
tellect is a sort of John Baptist that goes between the 
Moses and the Christ of man's nature. It does not 
partake of the lust of Moses nor of the love of Christ. 
Its delights are sometimes mistaken for love, or the 
joys of love. People often say of things which are 
beautiful that they love them. They say that they love 
the study of mathematics. That expression seems to 
me to be improper. The heat of love is never known 
to the cold intellect. The intellect can discourse elo- 
quently respecting justice and right; but, so far as the 
heart is concerned, it may trample upon all justice. 
You will see men who, so far as theory is concerned, 
will discourse eloquently concerning human justice 
and morality, yet they utterly disregard and ignore all 
moral restraints in their private character and prac- 
tices. These men are babes in their moral natures — 
they are less than babes. Intellect has to do with the 
relations of things — pertains to dead matter. The dif- 
ference between intellect and morals is the difference 
between the essence and spirit of matter and the 
essences or spirit of the soul. While science, which 
belongs to the province of intellect, may harmoniously 
journey with the moral affections, it may also journey 
with the sensuous affections. I make these remarks so 
that you may not suppose that a man belongs to the 
second sphere because of his having an intellectual 
character. 
The second sphere is a finite one, and depends en- 



64 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

tirely upon relation for its development, s ) that you 
can see at once that man could not love in the second 
sphere of his being without some object to call that 
love forth. The relational love, in this respect, is not 
like the divine love which goes forth independent of 
any object. The first sphere is objective in self; the 
second sphere is objective in neighbor; and the third 
sphere is subjective in God. 

The difference between this second sphere or love of 
the neighbor and the third sphere or the love of the 
absolute is this : The second sphere of love is object- 
ive, is not self-existent and self-sufficient ; it depends 
upon having an object to call it forth. The constitu- 
tion of mind is such that, in its consciousness, it can 
not love an object without having perceived it, the 
perception being either an ideal one or a real one. 
The love in point of quality depends, for its perfect- 
ness, upon the perfectness of the object. Not so with 
the infinite and divine love which is self-existent and 
self-sufficient. Wherever it acts, it acts subjectively, 
not objectively, though it is objective in its manifest- 
ation. Said Jesus of Nazareth, who was deeply 
learned in this love, in speaking to the Jew who was 
to become his disciple : " Ye have heard it said by those 
of old time, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate 
thine enemy ; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
you, and pray for them that despitefully use you; that 
you may be the children of your Father which is in 
heaven : for he causeth his sun to shine upon the evil 
and the good, and he sendeth his rain upon the just and 
unjust." Notice the figure. The sun shines not object- 
ively. It shines of its own nature. If the earth were 
to be blotted out of existence, the sun would shine on 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 65 

still; and if every other planet in the solar system 
should refuse to receive its light, the sun would con- 
tinue to shine. Its light and heat go forth in their own 
plenitude. Therefore if you and I wish the sunlight, 
we have but to stand forth ; but the sun does not shine 
or send forth his heat because we are here. It does 
not shine objectively but subjectively upon us. The 
sun, as a type of the divine wisdom, continuously gives 
forth its light; and as a type of divine love it con- 
stantly gives forth heat to build up finite forms. 

The Divine Father does not stop to inquire whether 
men love him or not. His love is self-existent, self- 
sufficient, and goes forth of its own divine plenitude, 
of its own infinite fullness, blessing every being in 
every plane, according as he comes into the condition 
to receive that blessing. God's sun shines upon the 
field of the wicked man as quick as upon the field of 
the righteous. This is bestowing blessing upon a com- 
mon plane. Man loves friend and curses foe, but 
Christ says you must not make any difference. You 
must become like your Father. You claim to be his 
children ; therefore love your enemies, seek good for 
all, whatever may be their affection for you. Christ's 
doctrine differed very much from what the world had 
heard before. It had generally been supposed that 
God loved objectively. Christ taught that God blessed 
every man according to the plane he occupied. God 
of his infinite fullness will pour out all the blessings 
you are capable of receiving. If you want all the 
joys of the third heaven, which are inexpressible, 
bring your mind to love subjectively. Love God, not 
for his use, not because he is going to bless you, but 
because there is interior harmony and oneness between 
your soul and his — because your heart thrills and 



66 SPIEITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

throbs to his divine heart. Then you will reap the 
blessings belonging to the divine plane. Man can 
only love an object by having an object to love ; but 
God is love ; it is his nature to love and bless ; and 
whatever comes within the divine influence will be 
blessed according to its capacity to receive the bless- 
ing ; and every action, every impulse, and every going 
forth of the divine in every plane is but a manifesta- 
tion of that divine love ; so that when you and I have 
perfected ourselves in loving our neighbor, have ful- 
filled the entire law of charity to all mankind, we are 
yet to go into a higher and holier love than that. We 
are to arise above this discrimination — we are to come 
into a plane where, having received the divine life and 
love, they shall go forth by their own plenitude to 
bless all around us, as our Father blesses all. In other 
words, he is to sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, 
and he is to purify us from all this dross, until he sees 
his own image perfectly reflected in us. When we 
shall reflect the divine image, there will be an indica- 
tion that all dross is burned away, and we shall be 
swallowed up in the divine will, though still retaining 
our divine personality, our hearts beating with the 
great heart that beats throughout the universe. 



COMMUNICATION. 

Communication' proper belongs to the sphere of mani- 
festation, and signifies, as I use the term, the impart- 
ing by one, and the receiving by another, of that which 
is imparted, or that which represents that which is 
imparted. When we look at man as a finite being, 
born as he is without conscious knowledge, and with- 
out conscious affection, and developed from that nega- 
tive point by that which flows or enters into his con- 
sciousness and daguerreotypes itself there, we readily 
see that he can only develop by being subject to the 
principles of communication : that is, he must receive 
that which is without into his consciousness ; therefore 
it must be communicated to him. Hence it becomes 
necessary for us to understand somewhat the laws of 
communication. As communication belongs to the 
sphere of manifestation, or the sphere of the finite, we 
must examine and see what are the means by which 
man as a conscious being is addressed, and the law by 
which the influence exerted upon- him is governed. 

The mind when looked at in its simplest nature con- 
sists of its perceptions and its affections : that is, its 
knowledge, if you please, and its love ; but in the 
order of unfolding, perception, as a conscious principle, 
precedes affection. That is, an individual as a finite 
being can not love till he. perceives an object to call 



t>8 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

forth that love or affection. Whether it pertain to un- 
conscious or to conscious nature, he must perceive the 
object before the affection is known to exist in his con- 
sciousness. For instance, a husband can know noth- 
ing of conjugal love, neither can the wife, until the 
object calling it forth exists in his or her perceptions. 
Neither can the mother love her babe until the object 
exists in her perceptions. Neither can the brother 
love brother or sister, or the child love its parents, 
until they perceive the objects of their affection. So 
you understand what I mean when I say in all finite 
natures perception precedes affection as a conscious 
principle ; hence the law of communication pertains 
to perception and affection. As perception precedes 
affection, it is more external, view it in what sphere 
you will. I am now using perception in the sense of 
thought. The individual, by the means of communi- 
cation, may be addressed externally by first addressing 
his perceptions, and thence through his perceptions 
addressing his affections ; or he may be addressed by 
first addressing his affections, and through them his 
thoughts. I shall use for the purpose of convenience 
the expression thought and affection. 

Then the two methods by which individuals may be 
addressed are first the external, and second the in- 
ternal. The external communication flows first into 
the thought, and the internal first into the affection. 
The external proceeds from thought to affection, and 
the internal from affection to thought. The one is by 
an outward language, by signs, and symbols, and rep- 
resentatives of ideas; the other is without external lan- 
guage, and is what is known as inspiration. 

Now, as there are three planes of conscious being, 
conscious perception, and conscious affection, and as 



SPIKITUALISM EXPLAINED. 69 

the thought or perception precedes the affection in the 
first or lowest plane, so it is in the second ; and it is 
the perception and affection in the third that begets 
the affection in the divine sphere. But as I am speak- 
iDg of communication I am confining my remarks to 
the first two spheres — the external physical sphere, 
and the spiritual or relational sphere; for they are 
spheres of manifestation and communication, and have 
reference to these finite spheres. When I complete 
the consideration of these, I will make some remarks 
on the divine sphere, to show the difference between 
it and those spheres below the divine. Take man, 
then, as a mere animal being, looking at his nature as 
being nervous, where his perceptions and affections 
have respect to his physical being. Here the same 
law of order prevails — perception precedes affection, 
and perception is external, while affection or love is 
internal ; but taken both together as constituting the 
animal nature, it becomes external to his spiritual na- 
ture ; but in his spiritual nature perception precedes 
affection ; hence, if we would communicate with him 
spiritually, external language communicates first with 
thought, and thence with the affection ; while internal 
language communicates first with the affection and 
thence with thought. Then external and internal com- 
munication differ in this, that the external is by means 
of outward language, and the internal is by means 
of a sort of inspiration. There are inspirations per- 
taining to each of the three spheres — the nerve-sphere, 
the spirit-sphere, and the divine-sphere. On coming 
into rapport with this audience, I through the nerve- 
medium by external means perceive individuals about 
me — perceive their forms, their faces, and their relative 
positions to each other; that is, by an external me- 



70 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

dium which represents the individual through the nerve- 
medium to my consciousness. But I may come in- 
ternally into rapport with these individuals by bring- 
ing my nerve-system into harmony with their nerve- 
system, and becoming negative to them. To explain : 
when I bring my nerve-system into sympathy with 
you, I take your sensations upon myself. If you have 
a pain in your head, I have a pain in my head also, 
corresponding in location and character to yours ; or 
if you experience a pain in any other part of your 
body, I feel that pain. JSTot a word has passed be- 
tween us concerning it, but nevertheless it comes upon 
me, and affects me in precisely the same manner that 
it does you. ~Now this I consider analogous to the in- 
spiration which belongs to the higher plane. This is 
the inspiration of the nerve-sympathy. Permit me to 
explain briefly what I understand by harmony ; be- 
cause the great law of harmony is fundamental to a 
comprehension of the law of inspiration. 

You are aware that if we take two strings of equal 
length and tension, and vibrate one of them, its vibra- 
tion communicates its motion to the atmosphere, and 
through the atmosphere to the adjoining string, so 
that they at length vibrate together. This experiment 
may be made by any one ; and it will be found that 
in this manner they can be caused to give forth the 
same sound, because the length of the vibrations of 
each will be the same ; and when there is a difference 
in the tone, it will be found that there is a difference 
in the length of the vibrations. This fact can be de- 
monstrated by varying the vibrations — by tightening 
or loosening the strings, and thus shortening or length- 
ening the vibrations, when it will be perceived that 
the shorter the vibration the higher will be the pitch 



SPIRITUALISM r ..x PLAINED. 71 

or tone. The length of vibration, then, determines the 
question of harmony. Here appears the great law of 
harmony in musical sound throughout the universe, 
which is commensurability. In mathematics, things 
which will mutually measure each other are said to be 
commensurable. Now these spheres of atmospheric 
vibration will always produce concord or harmony of 
sound. The difference between a third and a fifth is 
in the difference in the tone, and the difference in tone 
depends, as already said, upon the leugth of vibration. 
The sweetest harmony is the apparent discord, where 
the vibrations do not chord, but where every fifth co- 
incides ; and in this way produces the harmony of the 
third and fifth. The octave produces it by being re- 
peated twice, so that after all the real octave is as the 
square of the octave ; that is, the octave multiplied into 
itself; and you arrive mathematically at the law of 
harmony by following out that principle. The point 
to which I wish to call your attention is, that what 
constitutes harmony is simply commensurability in 
the atmospheric undulations. 

ISTow my nerve-fluid moves by pulsatory movements, 
as move all other media, and these movements sustain 
to those of your nerve-fluid commensurable or incom- 
mensurable relations; and you will find that the law of 
musical harmony, by which one of two strings having 
the same tension communicates its motion to the other, 
is the law which determines the harmony between my 
nerve-system and yours. I am constituted to speak 
upon a certain key, like an instrument. My nerve- 
vibrations undulate to that key, and when I am in 
perfect health, there is perfect harmony in my system. 
Tour nerve-undulations are perhaps tuned on a dif- 
ferent key, and if you are positive to me, my nerve- 



72 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

undulation will not move yours, nor yours mine, but 
they will resist each other like two strings unequally 
tuned. So my nerve-vibration will not communicate 
its undulations to you, nor will yours communicate its 
undulations to me, unless we happen to be upon the 
same key, or in harmonic or commensurable relations 
with one another. But in order to get our nerve-sys- 
tems to undulate one upon the other, I must either 
become negative to you or you must become negative 
to me. If I relax the key of my nerve-vibration, I 
shall change them until my nerve-system undulates in 
harmony with your nerve-system; and I being nega- 
tive and you positive, you undulate to my key, and we 
get nerve-sensations between us without any sign. The 
individual in mesmerizing his subject becomes positive, 
and he will succeed in mesmerizing that subject just 
as soon as he brings about a harmony of nerve-vibra- 
tion, so that the nerve-vibrations of both are alike. 
The condition is that the operator places himself in a 
positive position, while the subject must become neg- 
ative, by allowing his nerves to become relaxed ; then 
the operator commences by a strong effort to undulate, 
so to speak, his nerve-influence or forces upon the 
medium, until the medium sinking down comes to his 
key ; and then he by his forces insulates the system, 
and the individual passes rapidly into the condition of 
mesmerism ; but do any thing to disturb that medium, 
so as to make the points of nerve-tension unyielding, 
and the operator may work till doomsday in vain. It 
is not till the points have yielded and the vibrations 
harmonize with his that he can produce the effect upon 
the medium. This is on the same principle with the 
phenomena exhibited in experiments with the string, 
which is a type of the law of communication in every 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 73 

sphere — the vibration of the string represents the entire 
law. 

Take one string whose points of tension are unyield- 
ing, and another whose points of tension are yielding ; 
then cause one of them to undulate, and it will impart 
its motion to the atmosphere, when the atmosphere 
will strike upon the other ; and if it have the same 
points of tension that the other has, it will undulate ; 
but if it have not the same tension, it will receive the 
influence of the atmosphere, the tendency of which 
will be to depress it and bring it to its own vibration ; 
thus eventually the two strings will be made to har- 
monize. So when we sit down to mesmerize a person, 
he may be so positive that we do not at first succeed, 
perhaps, in producing the least impression upon him. 
We try again and again, and at last succeed in con- 
trolling the nerve-system, and through that the mental 
system of the subject. We are each time we try re- 
ducing the nerve-system to our key or standard, and 
the moment it is reduced to that point, the subject is 
under the operator's control, and not till then. When 
I speak of the harmonic action of one system upon 
another, it will be perceived that I speak of the 
relative measure or length of the nerve-undulation 
which passes between one mind and another. In the 
nerve-plane there is this method of addressing the 
nervous perceptions by external means — by language, 
by signs, by pantomimic representations. And there 
is the internal method corresponding to inspiration, 
which consists in coming into nervous sympathy and 
receiving nervous sensations one from another. A 
sensitive person looking upon a wound shrinks from 
beholding the sight, and there are real sensations ex- 
perienced in his nervous system which have been pro- 

4 



74 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

duced, not because a nerve-influence has acted upon 
him, but because he has seen the wound. The impres- 
sion first fell upon his conscious perceptions, and then 
went to his feelings, which is analogous to the prin- 
ciple that the idea first comes into the thought, and 
thence reaches the feelings. 

In the second plane — the mental or Spiritual plane— 
the same law prevails. There is the external method 
of addressing the mind, and there is also an internal 
method. The external is the method by which the 
mind is addressed first through the thought, and the 
internal is that by which the mind is addressed through 
the feelings. These two methods obtain in the whole 
plane of manifestation. If I wish to communicate 
with you, I must adopt one of these two methods ; and 
if I am not in spiritual or nervous rapport with you, 
I must adopt one of the methods of external communi- 
cation, and address you by signs or outward represent- 
ations — addressing first the thought or understanding, 
and coming thence to the affection indirectly. In all 
external methods, as well as in internal methods, 
media of communication become necessary. In speak- 
ing to you it becomes necessary that there should be 
some external media between you and me, and my 
communication must be through that media. In the 
present case, my speaking to you is performed through 
the physical atmosphere. I undulate my organs of 
speech to produce sound, and the atmosphere connects 
them with your organs of hearing, so that my mind, 
through my organs of speech, is connected with your 
mind. The method of communication is to transmit 
the actions of my organs of speech to your organs of 
hearing. Without this external medium I could not 
communicate with you by an external language. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 75 

Were I to address, not the ear, but the eye, there 
must be between us an external medium which ad- 
dresses the eye ; and that medium is the light which 
takes up the image of that which I would represent, 
and transmits it to your consciousness through the eye. 
So also in respect to the nerve-medium. If I would 
communicate an impression through the nerve-medium, 
there must be that medium external to me which cor- 
responds to the action of the nerve-fluid in you and 
me — there must be a medium between us which takes 
up my action and transmits it to you, and makes it 
your action. So with the mental medium. If I am to 
stand here, and you are to come into rapport with me, 
and I am to impress my thoughts upon you without 
external language, there must be a medium corre- 
sponding to these thoughts, and that medium must 
come down from me to you; and while I have power 
to awaken its vibration, its vibration must have power 
to awaken the same impression in you. Hence, then, 
in respect to all communication, there must necessarily 
be media connecting one with the other, who are all 
concerned in making and receiving the communica- 
tion ; and the medium must be such that it will extend 
from the one to the other. It must be continuous also; 
for if there be any interruption in the media, the com- 
munication can not be transmitted. For illustration, 
if I would address your consciousness through sound, 
the atmosphere, as the medium, must be continuous 
between you and me ; for if you interpose a vacuum, 
you can not transmit the action through it, the connec- 
tion being destroyed. So in regard to light. Inter- 
pose any medium which will not allow the light to pass 
through it, and I can not transmit the image by means 
of light. So also the nerve-medium must be continu- 



76 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

ouSj in order to admit of transmitting communication 
through it. The mental medium must likewise be con- 
tinuous, or I can not represent my thought through it. 
You perceive, then, this universal law in respect to 
communication between one mind and another, that 
there must necessarily intervene a medium, which 
must be continuous between them, and it must be such 
as to awaken action in the one, and transmit and 
awaken the same action in the other. It matters not 
what the plane is. They all come under the same law. 
Before I, by my simple will-power, can transmit a 
thought or idea or impression of my mind to you, there 
must be something between us which can take up and 
repeat that idea, or record it in your consciousness. If 
there be any thing to interrupt this medium, I can not 
transmit that thought; so that any power whatever 
which can interrupt that medium can interrupt the 
communication. Hence, again, it appears that in all 
communication between one being and another, there 
must necessarily interpose a medium, which must be 
continuous from the communicator to the one receiving 
the communication. This brings us to the considera- 
tion of other conditions necessary for communication 
between two minds — the difference between the thing, 
the being, or the existence itself, and that by which it 
is made known to the mind. I stand here before you. 
You can see me. I am then present in each one of 
your minds. I am present by my form, as well as by 
the sound of my voice. How many of me are there 
here ? One, of course. How many do you see ? 
How many of my mental images are here ? Just as 
many as there are eyes to look. My image is that by 
which you see me. My image is not in your mind in 
reality ; it is represented in your mind by something 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 77 

proceeding from me to you. My form is multiplied 
and repeated wherever there is an eye to see the 
image which proceeds from this form. If there are 
two or three hundred persons present, I have two or 
three hundred spiritual forms ; and if there were ten 
thousand present, I should have ten thousand spiritual 
forms. There is a difference, then, between the form 
itself and that which represents the form, and you 
should make this distinction. Tou may take as many 
positions as there are mathematical points in this 
room, and place an eye in each, and my form will be 
represented in all of these points. The means, then, 
by which you, through the eye, become conscious of. 
my presence here, is omnipresent in this room. I am 
not omnipresent, but that which represents me is om- 
nipresent, and that by which mind becomes conscious 
of me is omnipresent. 

There is never any existence to the mind in the 
sphere of manifestation, except by representation. "We 
talk as though we saw the sun, moon, and stars, and 
not as though we saw their representations ; but in re- 
gard to all things external or manifestational, man in 
all forms only perceives the representation ; and when 
the representation corresponds to the reality, he has 
the truth. ISTow in looking at these lights, the light is 
not in your mind, but its representation is there. It 
is there by that which represents it. Then you must 
make a distinction between the omnipresence of being 
and of that which represents being. In respect to all 
means by which the mind perceives existence external 
to its consciousness, it is true that it only perceives it 
by representation, and not by its presence. Existence 
in every department is represented to your mind, and 
mind by its representation, and not by its absolute 



78 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

presence, perceives it. Understand this distinction, 
and it will explain a great many mysteries you have 
had to contend with in times past. As you perceive 
my form by that which represents it to you, and as that 
which represents it is omnipresent in this room, while 
my form, from which these representations flow, has 
but one position, so also, if you should remove these 
walls many feet, or even miles, making this room 
many miles in extent, my form would be omnipresent 
in all this space, and the mind that perceived me 
would perceive me by that representation of form, and 
not by my presence. 

Now then, understanding this law, we will be very 
careful in all our investigations of communication to 
distinguish between the presence of the thing itself 
and the presence of that which represents it. Did I 
wish to communicate with a Spirit, who has unfolded 
in him a Spirit-consciousness, which can be addressed 
in another way than through the physical eye or ear 
or touch, and being so divested of this physical form 
that my mind comes in absolute contact with this 
Spirit-medium which permeates all space, and which 
internally and spiritually corresponds to light ex- 
ternal and physical, and passes freely through bodies 
opaque to light — then my Spirit-form acts upon 
that Spirit-medium which is not impeded by this wall, 
but which passes through it as light through trans- 
parent glass, carrying my image with it. We say that 
glass is transparent, because light passes freely through 
it, and brings the image of that which it would repre- 
sent. "We see an individual or tree coming freely 
through the glass into the room. Now if we have a 
medium which will pass as freely through a board, 
then that board is as transparent to that medium as 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 79 

glass is to light. The magnetic medium, by which the 
magnetic needle is influenced, passes freely through a 
board even ; therefore to that medium the board is as 
transparent as glass is to light. It is also well to un- 
derstand that this nerve-medium, as well as the spirit- 
ual medium corresponding to the mind — which is to 
the mind what the medium of light is to the eye — 
passes freely through these opaque bodies. Therefore 
the individual brought in contact with this medium 
will see Spirit-existences, not by their presence in the 
consciousness, but by that which represents the pres- 
ence there. Hence it is that the clairvoyant (when 
you have proceeded with your manipulation until you 
have insulated the mind, or brought it into clear rap- 
port with this spiritual medium or atmosphere so that 
he sees by the spiritual sight and hears with the spirit- 
ual ear, and no longer sees with the physical eye, or 
hears with the physical ear) comes in contact with this 
spiritual medium, and can look out into another room, 
and tell what is transpiring, who is there, etc., just as 
we can look through glass and tell what we see. The 
principle is precisely the same. The medium by which 
he perceives things in another room freely permeates 
or passes through the intervening walls ; so that al- 
though my spiritual form is still in this body, yet it is 
actually exerting its influence on this spiritual medium 
throughout the world — throughout not only this world, 
but throughout the solar system. Wherever this spirit- 
ual medium extends, this spiritual image of mine is 
taken and carried out through that medium, just as 
my physical image is carried out through the medium 
of light ; and whoever comes into rapport with that 
Spirit-medium and influence, and undulates to the 
same motion, will perceive that form. Hence coming 



80 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

into the clairvoyant condition I may see a person in 
London, if it so happen that the undulation of my 
mind on this medium be such as to harmonize with 
that of the individual in London — not that his spirit 
is personally here present, or my spirit personally 
present there (but I am here in my own spirit-con- 
sciousness, and he there in his spirit-consciousness), 
but because his image as well as mine is here and there 
and everywhere else. The idea that my mind goes to 
London, or his comes here, is altogether a misconcep- 
tion. I perceive that individual in London, not by his 
absolute presence, but by that which represents that 
presence here ; just as I see you, not by your presence 
in my mind, but by that which represents your presence 
there. It is in this way that persons in the body are 
at times seen -as though in distant places ; that is, they 
are seen by that spiritual image which is present, 
where the mind is unfolded so as to perceive by the 
spiritual medium, and happens to be in rapport so as 
to undulate to the same motion with that of the mind 
of the individual it perceives. 

Standing here this evening, I may be seen in Phila- 
delphia, because my image is there, as well as in every 
other place on earth ; and the individual, let him be 
where he may, who happens to be in rapport with me, 
will perceive me as though I were present where he is, 
and all the imagery by which I am surrounded. I am 
looking on this congregation, and therefore the per- 
son seeing me, sees me surrounded by this congrega- 
tion. He does not see you, but since you are in my 
mind, your image goes with mine. The person com- 
ing into rapport with me, sees you as your image exists 
in my mind. The idea that persons whose external 
forms are in different places, communicate with each 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 81 

other by being present one with the other, is altogether 
a mistaken one. So far as the external or relational is 
concerned — so far as the finite or manifestation al is 
concerned — we communicate externally only by that 
medium which represents that which we investigate or 
perceive ; and that is the peculiarity of arriving at 
knowledge through what is called the sphere of mani- 
festation. The difference between being and manifes- 
tation is seen in that law. 

If any one doubts this law, I am ready to be ques- 
tioned. Bring up any case you please, either from the 
natural or the Spiritual world, and I will show that 
that is the law. I say it is altogether a fallacious idea 
that Spirits can not communicate without being actually 
present — the idea that Spirits can not communicate in 
ISTew York, London, Liverpool, or any other place in 
the world at the same moment, is altogether a falla- 
cious idea. They can be present wherever there is a 
mind in rapport with them to see that presence. 
People talk abouttheir being so rapid in their passage 
from here to Boston or London, and wonder how they 
can go over the ground so quick. This is all explained 
when you understand the law of manifestation. There 
is no apparent difference of time between London and 
any other place — it is only a relative difference — 
merely a question of relation. This, then, being the 
law of communication and manifestation, we will just 
notice one thing further, which will explain why it is 
that individuals are obliged to come into certain states 
to receive communications, and will answer many 
other questions, among which are, " Why are not all 
mediums?" "Why can not all get communications?" 
" Why is it that one who can get a communication at 
one time can not at another?" Ten thousand such 

4* 



82 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

questions are pressed every day, when the law is just 
as simple as that two and two make four. 

If we wish to get a communication we must conform 
to the conditions required by the law; and if we do not 
conform to those conditions, God himself could not 
give it to us. The laws of manifestation and commu- 
nication are as fixed and immutable as God's own 
being. Our business is to comply with the conditions, 
and then take what follows. We need not stop to 
quarrel because it requires a wire rather than a tow- 
string to make a good telegraph. It is enough for us 
to know that it is so, and conform to the conditions. 

The great law by which all action producing result, 
producing development and communication, is gov- 
erned, is the one to which I first referred — the law of 
commensurability in form and motion. All develop- 
ment comes under that law. The law of triunes, the 
law of sevens, and the law of twelves, are all wrought 
out by that simple law. You can not develop in any 
key except you comply with that law. Commensur- 
ability tends to produce harmonious results, while in- 
commensurability tends to produce discord and death 
— the difference between concord and discord marks 
the difference between commensurability and incom- 
mensurability in form and motion. 

We have several different departments of our sys- 
tems. I have a vital, a nervous, and a mental system, 
each of which has actions peculiar to itself — actions 
which sustain to each other certain relations, either 
commensurable or incommensurable. Now, when my 
spiritual and vital systems act upon the same key, 
there is harmony between my internal and external 
forms ; but if they do not undulate to the same key — ■ 
if there is not harmonious action between my mind 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 83 

and spirit, I can not be a medium for physical com- 
munication, for the same reason that if you graft a 
peach upon an apple, you can not make it grow (ac- 
cording to my information). It is because the vital 
action between them is an incommensurable action. 
ISTow, whenever my mental action is too intense for my 
nerve or vital action, if you will by any means reduce 
my mental action so that it may harmonize with my 
nervous action, perhaps I will get physical manifesta- 
tions peculiar to myself. I was once one of those 
things called mediums, and am now, perhaps, to some 
extent. When I was partially asleep there would be 
very loud raps, and if you could come in without 
waking me up you might get a communication, and it 
has ever been so when I am peculiarly quiet mentally ; 
but the moment I rouse up and ask questions I can get 
no reply. There are others who require exactly op- 
posite conditions, whose bodies are too active for their 
minds, in whose presence you can get rappings by re- 
ducing the action of the body. But you change them 
from that point, the manifestation ceases. There are 
other individuals who in the normal state seem to com- 
ply with all the conditions necessary; that is, whose 
vital and nervous actions are the same ; but you make 
them angry or stir up within them feelings of dread or 
fear, and your manifestations cease, simply because 
there is no harmonic action between the mental and 
physical systems. 

Persons boast, at times, of being able to destroy the 
power of mediums ; but nothing could be simpler, for 
a powerful battery may have its action stopped by lift- 
ing out the connecting wire, simply by disarranging 
the conditions of its action. It is often the case that 
the entrance of a person into a circle where manifesta- 



84: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

tions are occurring, causes their discontinuance, and 
the person is perhaps astonished to think the Spirits 
should be so contrary. It was simply because he had 
come in and violated the conditions by which they 
could manifest. He had, so to speak, disturbed one 
of the plates of the battery. The law to which your 
attention is called, is this great law of commensur- 
ability in form and motion; or, in other words, the 
law of harmonic action, which is manifested not only 
in the material plane, but unfolded in every degree 
upon the conscious plane. In consequence of this law 
the communication between spheres differing in their 
characteristics must necessarily be external; that is, 
I can not communicate with an individual by the in- 
ternal method, or the method of inspiration, except he 
is on the same plane with myself. Perhaps there is 
not one individual here so exactly on the same nerve- 
plane with myself, that I could communicate with him 
without signs ; yet I can reveal my form so that you 
can all see me, by an external method, though we be- 
long, perhaps, to very different planes. "We can all 
communicate by external language, provided in our 
communications we take that plane of communication 
which will be familiar to all present. This is the law 
existing between minds out of the physical body. One 
mind out of the physical body may communicate with 
another out of the physical body, by an external 
means, when he can not by the internal. The external 
means does not come directly to the affection. The 
vulgar and the profane man may speak to the refined 
mind by means of speech so as to shock the feelings ; 
but he can not speak by his sympathy. 

One class of individuals in the sphere of lust — in 
what we call the low and polluted plane— can not 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 85 

come into rapport with those occupying a higher plane. 
There is an " impassable gulf" between them. Never- 
theless, by the external language which addresses the 
external being, the thought or perception, they may be 
able to communicate. The same law of communica- 
tion applies in the Spiritual world. If angels are em- 
ployed as messengers, they communicate by an exter- 
nal language; because their thoughts can not flow into 
the lower affection — the lower can not respond to 
them. If a Spirit in Paradise wishes to communicate 
with one in the sphere of lust, he must take upon him- 
self the conditions of lust, or he can not communicate 
by the internal method. He can not communicate 
by the internal method, because the conditions are 
dissimilar. Communications made to us from a higher 
plane must be external, and must be addressed to our 
thought ; and if they operate upon our affection, most 
flow from the thought into the affection. It is for 
this reason that God, the Divine, can not communi- 
cate with man, the imperfect and finite, except by 
means of those who can receive truth from the Divine, 
and who can externally communicate it to those be- 
low. 

Spirits under a higher and more perfect law can 
not come and inspire us in our polluted condition, 
but they can, by means of external language, draw us 
from our low condition of lust, and bring us to a plane 
where a Spirit nearer to our plane may by influx 
come into us and develop within us the true affection ; 
but the high spirit can not do it. Hence it is thai 
there is a gradation between the highest and lowest — ■ 
that 

" Angels form a chain which in God's burning throne begins, 
And winds down to the lowest, plane of earthly things." 



86 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

I may possibly receive a communication from a 
higher plane by abstracting myself from the lusts and 
evils of the world, by sending forth my highest, and 
holiest, and purest aspirations after all that is pure and 
good— for a moment elevating my condition to a higher 
plane. That is the condition of true prayer. While 
in that condition a Spirit of that higher plane may, by 
influx, raise me up and hold me in that condition. 
That is, the true effect of the condition known as 
prayer, is to separate you from the lusts and passions 
of the world — every thing which is tending to degrade 
you. Then by fixing your mind on your highest per- 
ception, and that which is pure, and true, and holy, you 
elevate yourself above the plane on which you natur- 
ally move — bring yourself where a higher angel can 
reach down and raise you up. Therefore, though 
prayer does not change the state of the soul, yet it is 
one of the conditions by which we climb to the higher 
spheres. You know the direction in regard to prayer 
was, " when you pray do not go into the public places 
and talk a great deal, thinking God is going to hear 
you for your much speaking." 

The object of prayer is not to inform God — to change 
his mind; therefore when you pray, retire from the 
world and all outward influences, and if necessary go 
into a room, and shut the world out with all its influ- 
ences ; and then, in the secret aspirations of your soul, 
raise your thoughts and desires to the infinite, perfect, 
and undying, that you may bring yourself within the 
plane of blessings — within the plane of that influence 
which can elevate you. If God could come down to 
our plane, and by the influx of his Spirit into our con- 
sciousness could enlighten our understandings and 
purify our hearts, there is no excuse for its not being 



SPIEITTJALISM EXPLAINED. 87 

done. He is infinite, and there is an infinite fullness 
in him ; but the reason he does not, is that he can not. 
It is impossible that God should lie, and it would be 
lying if he should do this. 

Conditions can not be at the same time unlike and 
like — at the same time discordant and harmonious; 
the plane of lust can not harmonize with the plane of 
love. The plane of man in his low condition can not 
harmonize with tne plane of the Divine in his infinitely 
elevated, pure, and holy condition. Therefore if a man 
would receive God into his consciousness, he must put 
himself into the condition to receive influx ; and if he 
would have an influx from a pure Spirit, he must be- 
come pure and holy himself. If God did not teach 
Moses so that he could understand all truth, as did the 
Man of Nazareth., and understand the great principle, 
"Thou shalt not resist evil by evil," it was because he 
did not occupy the plane of inspiration. He occupied 
a plane where there could be external manifestations, 
which he had, but he could not receive a great uni- 
versal law, because he was not on the plane of the in- 
ternal and divine. The inspiration of Paul, Peter, 
Luke, and John, was not equal to that of their Teacher, 
because they had not arisen to his elevated condition ; 
had they occupied his plane, God could have com- 
municated as well to them as to their Teacher ; and it 
would not have been necessary for them to have a 
middle-man to come between them and God. 

When you have risen to the plane of communica- 
tion, the communication is internal. You have no 
outward form of expression, because you have the 
thought itself by inspiration. In the language of the 
Apostle, God writes his language in your understand- 
ing and in your affections. All communication with 



88 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

the spiritual world proceeding according to this law, 
each man's communication will be according to his 
plane ; if in the low plane of lust, his communications 
will be of that character ; if in the plane of love, his 
communications will be of that character. But even 
the lowest, bj putting himself in the condition of 
prayer, by aspiring for the good and the holy, by 
putting up earnest petitions for aid, will always find a 
Spirit near to sustain and elevate him. 



PHILOSOPHY OP PROGRESSION. 

If we wish to arrive at an accurate knowledge of 
any subject, we must endeavor to ascertain what is 
fundamental to that subject. If we need to investigate 
accurately any science, we need to inform ourselves as 
early as possible of the fundamental principles pertain- 
ing to that science. There is no better way to study 
the history of creation than by studying it as revealed 
in the phenomena of Nature. When I can investigate 
Nature in her operations, and ascertain the laws by 
which she performs her work, I then can arrive — at 
least approximately — at the philosophy of Nature, in 
attaining which I attain the philosophy of divine man- 
ifestation. There can be no interpolation there. The 
Divine Artificer works alone in the fields of Nature ; 
and where I can discover the manifestation of wisdom 
and power, there I come directly into communication 
with the Divine Being in that plane of action and 
manifestation ; and when I learn what the law of 
action and manifestation is in that department, I learn 
so much of the method of the divine work, or of the 
divine order. I propose, then, briefly to call your 
attention to the teachings of God upon this subject of 
progression, as manifested in the fields of Nature ; and 
will then ask you to accompany me in endeavoring to 
ascertain what are some of its fundamental laws. 



90 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

Were I to inquire what is the apparent design of 
every thing we behold, we must see that it is pointing 
to the ultimating of an individualized, immortal, intel- 
ligent being, who should be capable of understanding 
all truth, and being perfected in every true affection. 
Every thing tends to bring about that great result — the 
unfolding of an immortal being. God and the mate- 
rial universe seem to be laboring to beget an individu- 
alized being in the image of both God and the uni- 
verse — God as the absolute and infinite, and matter as 
the finite, uniting, produce a being which partakes 
of both the absolute or infinite and the finite. When 
viewed from one plane he is infinite; when viewed 
from another plane he is finite ; so that between God 
and matter man is mediate. I would say, then, in 
simple language, God is the father of the spirit, and 
matter the mother of his form. The first step in the 
path of unfolding, as taught by Nature, is that of indi- 
vidualizing form. The next step is that of individual- 
izing life, of producing individuality. The last step is 
that of producing personality, making the individual a 
personal being. The form is necessarily finite. The 
mind can conceive of it only as finite, and as composed 
of that which is the absolute, finite matter, which, sep- 
arate from the divine being, has no life or power. It 
is not self-sufficient nor conscious. 

If we can suppose that matter shall be divested from 
all connection with media which can impress upon it a 
condition, we speak of it as being amorphous matter, 
or matter without form. If we unite it then with one 
medium, as electricity, we find it tending to produce 
the gaseous condition, the nebular condition. Form 
is not yet attained. If we unite with it still another 
medium which is a little different from electricity, 



SPIKITUALISM EXPLAINED. 91 

forms of the mineral kingdom are produced. We 
have here the first degree of form, "but as yet there is 
not life or individuality. Now the next advance is to 
induce in that form a condition which shall make it 
receptive of life, for that which is to be individualized 
is life. So, then, in passing through the elaborating 
influences of the mineral kingdom, it arrives at a cer- 
tain point, a sort of culminating point, where it joins 
upon the vegetable kingdom ; and the line between 
these kingdoms is passed by such imperceptible grada- 
tions — so slow is the unfolding of forms — that it is im- 
possible for the naturalist to tell accurately where the 
one begins and where the other ends ; - but the vegeta- 
ble kingdom is manifestly begun when there is found 
the incorporation of a new principle into a new form — 
a principle looking to organization — giving matter an 
organic structure. When the principle known as the 
life-force is introduced, then it is -understood that min- 
eral has passed and the vegetable is commenced. As 
soon as this is unfolded, we have a second advance of 
form — life in its first degree ; or, in other words, indi- 
vidualization commences. Form, has passed to its sec- 
ond degree, and goes on elaborating degree after 
degree, producing diverse organic forms, until it is 
prepared to receive another and a more interior prin- 
ciple — consciousness — until by imperceptible degrees 
we arrive at the animal kingdom. We have then the 
animal form, the third or finishing degree of form, and 
the second degree of life, and the first degree of con- 
sciousness. Man in his animal nature is the comple- 
tion of the highest form. Life has yet one more 
degree to pass through ; consciousness has yet two 
more degrees to pass through before it is complete. 
The next advance is to a higher principle of conscious- 



\)% SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

ness — to a more enduring principle of life, without 
changing the material form, and that is to the spiritual 
degree of unfolding. 

Looking to the highest types of the animal and the 
lowest types of men, we will observe that they ap- 
proach very near to each other. Naturalists have been 
divided in opinion as to whether or not man was an 
animal projected on a little higher plane, and whether 
or not the difference is not merely one of degree. I 
say that when man is developed, we find him develop- 
ing or individualizing a higher principle. Individual- 
ity was first started in the vegetable ; the principle of 
vitality in the animal. The second degree of individu- 
ality was where the animal became individualized on 
a higher plane of life, on a plane of consciousness be- 
longing to what we call the nerve-medium. Man indi- 
vidualizes upon the second degree of consciousness and 
the third degree of life, completing an individuality. 
He becomes to us the highest type of form and life in 
the finite ; and a large class of philosophers and theo- 
logians conceive man as formed in the divine image, 
and suppose the expression that God made man in his 
own image, to refer to an external as well as internal 
likeness. 

Man as an individual occupies the highest plane ; he 
has attained to the third degree of life as a Spiritual 
being, consequently he becomes immortal. If the third 
degree of life brings man into communion with the 
self-living and divine, he becomes immortal ; if not, 
then he is not immortal; for that only is immortal 
which receives into itself that which is self-living, self- 
sufficient, and self-existent, that which can not be dis- 
solved or disorganized. If man has not attained to 
that plane which joins upon that which is self-existent, 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 93 

he is not immortal. The simple fact that man can 
think, will, and act, proves nothing for his immortality. 
The dog can act, and think, and will, but that does not 
make the animal immortal. Those who base immor- 
tality upon that, do not perceive its real basis. Man 
becomes immortal by his relation to that which is self- 
existent and self-sufficient, and has that self-sufficient 
condition brought into him by induction. He receives 
it by a sort of divine induction. I have brought in a 
chart to illustrate the principle of induction or the law 
of progression. You observe that man stands at the 
head of form and life, though not at the head of con- 
sciousness. He is as a finite being produced only to 
the second degree of consciousness. That is the last 
step man took. Man has advanced to the second de- 
gree of consciousness, which looks to the relational and 
finite, hence man as a moral being, as a finite being ; 
and that which he investigates in virtue of his faculties 
as a moral being must be finite. He can therefore only 
investigate in the sphere of the finite. The moment 
he attempts to embrace the infinite, and translate that 
into the finite, that moment he is pushing his investiga- 
tions beyond his development. 

But there is not only this second degree of conscious- 
ness, which notices the relation, but there is a third de- 
gree, which notices or perceives the absolute. It per- 
ceives not only outward form and mediate relation, but 
the absolute essence of all being. Man attains to that, 
not because that third nature is individualized in him, 
but because by reason of its conjunction upon that 
condition which is known as the absolute, he has that 
condition in him by a sort of induction — a non-in- 
dividualized condition, a sort of resident divinity in 
him, gives him this third degree. 



94: STIRITUALlSM EXPLAINED. 

JSTow permit me to illustrate the principle of induc- 
tion. You understand, when electric conditions are 
produced, that there is such a thing as causing them 
by induction. You understand that negative attracts 
positive, and that positive attracts negative — that where 
these opposite conditions prevail there is a tendency 
to bring them together. Similar conditions repel, and 
opposite conditions attract, each other. We under- 
stand that all electrical currents are double — that there 
is a primary and a secondary current. In vitality, in 
nerve-aura, in whatever acts as a medium, there is a 
double current. The second current is within the pri- 
mary, and runs in the opposite direction. It is more in- 
terior than the primary. Now, if I have a body charged 
positively, and I bring it into a certain relation to 
another body, it imparts its electricity to it. This 
is called producing the condition by induction. I speak 
now of progression under this law of induction. 

Suppose, now, that we take the two great principles 
of life — consciousness and action on the one hand, and 
death, unconsciousness, or inertia on the other hand — 
one being impartive and the other negative and re- 
ceptive. God on the one hand and matter on the other. 
(Pardon me for speaking of God as a principle, the 
subject requires it. "Whatever is attempted to be ex- 
plained in language must necessarily be considered as 
finite.) Now, whatever pertains to the divine and ab- 
solute on the one hand, the very opposite pertains to 
matter on the other hand ; hence we speak of the suf- 
ficiency of Deity and the inertia of matter. This 
principle of inertia, however, is as essential to the de- 
velopment of form and individuality in the finite as 
the principle of consciousness is to the conscious being. 
Without the two conditions, that which is mediate 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 95 

could not be elaborated or produced. God's creative 
agency, the positive current, passes out upon matter, 
from which there is a current returning to mind, in 
which negative current individualization takes place. 
The returning current first begins to elaborate form ; 
next, with the progress of matter, comes individuality ; 
next, personality. The formative principle is in the 
secondary current, which produces induction ; but that 
which is interior to form and elaborates it is the in- 
duced or positive current, which partakes of the posi- 
tive or energetic action of the divine current, so to 
speak. In this way, by induction, form after form is 
elaborated and made to become the receptive of cer- 
tain conditions. Matter has no power of itself, but at 
the same time is receptive of influences or conditions. 
Two theories have prevailed respecting the origin of 
man. One is what we call the theory of supernatural- 
ism, which supposes that the divine being, at a certain 
period of time, when every other condition was ful- 
filled, came down, and by special power formed man 
in his present shape, and imparted to him his present 
spiritual life ; and that from that man thus formed, and 
a woman formed for his companion, sprang all the rest 
of the human family. Others, who adhere to this idea 
in general, suppose that there was a plurality of parents, 
from whom the human race have proceeded. The op- 
posite theory is, that man has been developed from the 
animal kingdom — that he is a development of the ani- 
mal in a higher plane. This theory was advocated by 
La Marc. Now, I believe in neither theory. The 
truth lies between the two. In the outset I made this 
remark, which I intended to be understood as meaning 
all that it implied: that God is the Father of the 
jspirit, while matter is the mother of the form. Matter 



VO SPIEITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

is finite in all its attributes and qualities. God is in- 
finite in all his attributes and qualities. Man is taken 
from the finite in his lower plane. His form is nour- 
ished and fed by its connection with the finite, and 
when the spirit is separated therefrom, this portion of 
man goes to decay ; and so far as he is concerned as 
an individual, he is no more. On the other hand, man 
comes from the infinite, in the higher department of 
his being, so that man partakes of both the finite and 
the infinite. He is in the image of his mother, as well 
as of his father. He is created in the image of God 
and the image of matter. He has both an individual- 
ity and a personality. In his finity he is an individual ; 
in his divinity he is personal. Therefore man contains 
in himself all the germinal elements of the universe, 
and also the representative elements of the Divine 
Being. 

As a being of form man became receptive of con- 
ditions. The mineral eventually became receptive of 
the principle of life, which developed the vegetable 
kingdom. The moment this life-principle began to 
work in producing organic structure and multiplying 
relations and conditions, a variety of forms succeeded, 
until forms were brought to such a point that they 
became receptive of a higher principle — the nerve- 
principle or consciousness, and the animal kingdom 
was the result. The vegetable kingdom only produced 
the form. The spirit came into it by induction from 
the other direction. The vegetable did not produce 
the animal ; it merely produced the conditions by 
which this conscious principle could be induced into 
the individuality developed by the vegetable. That 
individuality was raised out of the vegetable and placed 
upon the animal plane, and a new kingdom was born 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 97 

by the application of the law of cominensurability. 
Eventually form was elaborated through the entire 
animal kingdom until the highest form the nerve- 
principle could produce, was produced. 

The human form was elaborated through the animal 
kingdom, but the spirit was not elaborated there. 
When the nerve-principle had done its best, had ful- 
filled its highest possible condition, and had brought 
form to join upon spirit, the condition of spirit was 
induced into this form; and the induction of that 
spirit raised the form of the animal kingdom into the 
human kingdom ; and the first man thus stood forth, 
produced by the divine breath breathing into him, 
consequently the difference between the lowest man 
and the highest animal was very slight. The man, to 
be sure, takes his animal body, appetites, senses, and 
the laws which govern in the development of his body, 
from the animal, but not that which pertained to his 
spiritual nature. It received this from above by the 
induction of the divine principle which took hold of 
the form and raised him out of the animal kingdom ; 
so that man does not trace his parentage to the animal 
but to God. He has been begotten by the spirit and 
power of God, operating through every plane of being 
and action from the crystal to the divine. I detract 
nothing from the divine wisdom and power when I say 
that God works in an orderly and methodic manner. 
Forms are of the earth, but the spirit is from heaven. 
The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man 
is the lord from heaven. 

Every operation on the material side of the universe 
looks to the ultimating of a form which shall be so 
perfect as to become receptive of a spirit which shall 
be capable of living forever, of being conscious of all 

5 



98 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

that is, of being truly affected by that which it per- 
ceives. There is not an operation in nature, not even 
the progress of the comet in its path, which does not 
look to the production of a human being, the produc- 
tion of an immortal soul. There is not a manifestation 
of power or wisdom in the world which is not laboring 
and conspiring to accomplish this great end of produc- 
ing a son, a child of God, which shall be capacitated 
to be receptive of its divine origin. We shall event- 
ually see that every law which we now think is work- 
ing for destruction, is but the going forth of the divine 
power to produce the being, man. 

I said that man was not immortal in consequence of 
his spirit-individuality alone. The reason that man is 
immortal is very manifest. The highest principle in 
the animal individuality is the nerve-principle, the 
principle of consciousness which can perceive material 
forms and material phenomena. That interior prin- 
ciple is not unfolded in the animal. The inmost prin- 
ciple of the animal, I grant, is spiritual, but that 
principle is not individualized. The animal has only 
the nerve-principle individualized. He has senses, 
and can perceive facts and phenomena; but he can 
not perceive relations — has no desire after relations — ■ 
and knows nothing of moral duties. He can not be 
active in that way, because his highest individuality 
is his mere nervous individuality. God does not 
breathe into the animal that breath of life which makes 
him a living soul. But man is individualized not only 
in this nerve-principle, but in the spirit-principle ; and 
joining upon the infinite he does take the divine breath 
into him as the inmost principle of his being. Man is 
immortal by his relation to the self-sufficient and self- 
existent. It is his relation to God that makes him im 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 99 

mortal. . The animal is not immortal, because tie has 
not this relation. Man having this higher principle 
individualized in him becomes a religious being. 

In the example heretofore cited of Sir Isaac New- 
ton and his dog perceiving the falling of an apple, the 
dog was seen as observing only the fact, while Sir 
Isaac Newton observed the law, which he called gravi- 
tation ; yet not being developed in his divine con- 
sciousness, which perceives the absolute and divine, 
he could not tell the absolute cause of the phenome- 
non. The dog is in the manifestation al sphere, while 
Sir Isaac Newton was developed in the manifestational 
and relational, but not yet in the absolute, but was 
capable of being developed in that sphere by induc- 
tion. Man is therefore a microcosm. He has all those 
conditions which pertain to the universe. He is its 
fruit. There are three stages in the development of 
man: first, form ; second, individuality ; third, person- 
ality — to which Jesus made allusion in speaking of the 
development of fruit, saying that there was first the 
blade, next the ear, and after that the full corn. Man, 
standing at the head of the development, is the fruit of 
the universe. He is the grand ultimate of all preced- 
ing action. He is the footings-up of all that is and all 
that has been. There is no condition of being not a 
condition of relation in the wide universe which man 
does not contain in some department of his being ; and 
just as he unfolds in his conscious nature, does he 
represent different spheres in the Spiritual world. If 
in self-lust, he registers his name in that department 
of the Spiritual universe called Gehenna ; if in charity, 
he records his name in the sphere Paradise ; and if in 
divine love — if the divine is so developed in him that it 
is a ruling love — he is registered in heaven; and then 



100 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

it is lie perceives God. If he is developed like the 
Man of Nazareth, so that his Father's will is his will, 
so that he can bow submissively to it, whether it be to 
inflict pain and death or life and prosperity, he is born 
into the absolute or divine. This, then, is the simple 
law of unfolding. Man becomes in the Spirit-world 
what he is in himself. When you .determine where 
his ruling love is, you have determined his sphere ; 
and if he is to manifest to this world, he will manifest 
according to the sphere he is in. He advances by the 
same principle of induction as is concerned in the de- 
velopment of his personality. It is as the poet re- 
marks : 

" All angels form a chain which in God's burning throne begins, 
And winds down to the lowest plane of earthly things." 

Understand, then, each individual is a link in that 
chain, all put together in the various degrees of un- 
folding. So that " as each lifts his lower friends, can 
each into superior joys ascend." As you would raise 
yourselves, raise the man next below you. As you 
would labor to save yourself, labor to save your neigh- 
bor. Your salvation consists in saving others. There 
is no way in which a man so entirely defeats his own 
happiness as when he attempts to make that happiness 
his highest end. The pleasure-seekers will bear me 
witness that the real happiness is in performing some 
duty or fulfilling some end, not with a view to getting 
happiness. If a man seeks after right, he can not 
avoid happiness. 

JSTow you can understand that it depends upon you 
and me to determine our plane — to determine our con- 
dition in the Spirit- world. 

Jesus said to his disciples that when he should go to 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 101 

his Father, they would see him no more, meaning that 
he should no longer appear in his form — no longer 
appear in the spheres of manifestation — Gehenna and 
Paradise. He can only be communed with by those 
in the same condition. But previous to going to his 
Father he told them, "A little while and ye shall see 
me." He was living then in his physical body, talk- 
ing with his disciples through their natural under- 
standing. He told them he was going to be gone a 
little while, and would return ; but after that he would 
go to their Father, and they would see him no more. 
He first went to Paradise, from whence he could mani- 
fest himself. During forty days after his crucifixion 
he remained in Paradise, which joins the natural 
sphere, and manifested himself from time to time, en- 
deavoring to open communication between the Spir- 
itual and natural sphere. Having spent forty clays 
developing his apostles as mediums, he went to his 
Father, into a sphere which is not one of manifesta- 
tion, and they saw him no more. I do not mean that 
he went to a particular place, but that he went into a 
more interior condition ; that is, he retired from the 
external to the absolute and divine, and of course could 
no longer be made manifest ; and according to the de- 
scription, he was separated from his disciples, and a 
cloud received him out of sight — not a literal cloud, 
but that interior condition of divine personality which 
made him invisible to them as a spiritual being, where 
he has continued from that time to the present. The 
second sphere, Paradise, is that in which angels are 
said to be God's messengers. God can not directly 
communicate his consciousness to us in this sphere. 
He simply gives his consciousness to his angels, who 
translate it into the external sphere. 



102 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

In speaking of the Divine Being as nearly as pos- 
sible in external language, I would say that He is a 
personality, but not an individuality. Individuality is 
finite necessarily ; therefore all the ideas originating 
from such an individuality, are finite ; hence if you at- 
tempt to portray the Infinite in your imagination, you 
make him finite, and just so sure as you attempt to 
make that finite image or idea represent the Infinite, 
that moment you involve yourself in inextricable con- 
fusion. You make an individual of God and make 
him finite. By personality, which is quite another 
thing, I refer to this principle of consciousness. That 
being only has attained personality where the subject 
arises and the object terminates within himself. That 
being is a personality alone who possesses self-existence 
and self-sufficiency. Now I standing before you am 
liable to influences outside of myself. An act arising 
from such influences is not strictly mine, not depend- 
ing entirely upon me for its existence. If you influence 
me, and my act be a good one, you are entitled to part 
of the credit ; if it be bad, you are chargeable with part 
of the censure. You can see that under this law of 
motive, which belongs to the first and second spheres 
of mind, no action depending upon outward condition 
is perfect, not being self-sufficient or self-existent. It 
belongs to the individuality ; but when the act is of 
such a character that it can not receive outward in- 
fluence arising from a sort of divine spontaneity, it is 
self-existent and self-sufficient, and the person capable 
of such an act may be said to be a personality ; that 
is, he is becoming independent — attaining to a self-suffi- 
ciency and self-existence. An individual is neither. 
It is only that which receives. Hence man, who is said 
to be begotten the child of God, has another's self-suf- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 103 

ficiency. All that he has he has received. Said Jesus, 
speaking from the natural plane, "I can of my own self 
do nothing. As I hear I judge. It is not I that doeth 
the work, but the Father that dw T elleth in me that doeth 
the work." So you will understand what I mean when 
I say that man as a separate individual has a finite 
being, but in his connection with the Divine Being he 
becomes a personality, not of his own, but as a per- 
sonality in God. The universal and eternal personal- 
ity of God is in him. This is the relation we sustain 
as finite beings to the Infinite. 

I expect not to convey my idea in a very clear man- 
ner. I can only point in the direction, and say invest- 
igate in that direction and you will find the infinite. 
I can only give a negative description of the infinite 
by saying what it is not, and ask you to pursue the 
positive in your inmost consciousness ; and after a 
little while you will see some glimmering of the in- 
stinct infinite. Then all your doubts about the infinite 
will cease. You will then be able to perceive, although 
not able to describe, how it is that there is an infinite 
Father whose love and wisdom is over all his works. 



MEDIUMSHIP. 

My subject of discourse this evening is that of medi- 
umship. There are two classes of mediumship, and 
only two : that which is external, that which reaches 
the consciousness through the region of thought ; and 
the internal, that which reaches it directly in the affec- 
tions. The most imperfect as a means of communica- 
tion is what is known as the external, its imperfection 
being due to the fact of its having to employ in its 
communication certain signs or symbols, which signs 
or symbols each individual must translate by his own 
standard — by his own understanding. Its perfection 
as a means of communication depends, first, upon the 
perfection of the communicator; secondly, upon the 
perfection of the understanding of the individual to 
whom the communication is made. If the communi- 
cation pertain to those things belonging to the common 
plane of the understanding, and the individual com- 
municating and the one to whom the communication 
is made understand alike the symbols used, the method 
of communication is comparatively perfect. I am 
obliged to make use of certain natural words which 
are signs of ideas. If you understand these words 
precisely as I do, I will succeed in conveying my 
ideas. But if the slightest difference exist between us 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 105 

in the use of words, a perfect communication can not 
take place. You understand how this is. JSTothing is 
more common in an audience like this than for differ- 
ent individuals to understand the speaker differently, 
though each individual heard the same words. But 
different conclusions are attained because each inter- 
prets by his own standard. 

"We can not be perfect in our external methods of 
communication any further than we each occupy the 
same plane in our communication, and understand 
alike the symbols used. If I were describing simple 
natural things, and describing them by natural quali- 
ties, there would be no difficulty, perhaps, in convey- 
ing a definite idea. I may not fail in describing ob- 
jects by using such terms as "red, white, round, 
square, angular," because these terms are commonly 
well understood. So in regard to all the natural quali- 
ties of objects with which we are familiar. We have 
the correct elements out of which to construct a cor- 
rect idea. Therefore, while I am communicating on 
the natural plane where we all possess the same con- 
sciousness, external language answers very well as a 
means of communication. 

But suppose I attempt to go into a more interior 
truth — that which does not address each one's con- 
sciousness through the sense. I am obliged, however, 
to make use of external language ; but as the interior 
truth is more interior than the natural plane, I must 
employ that language figuratively — must speak by 
parables, similes, and allegories. But the moment we 
begin to use language in that manner we are very 
liable to be misunderstood. The individual inclined 
to understand all things on the natural plane will very 
likely fail to get the spiritual idea which is figuratively 



106 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

conveyed. A truth expressed in figurative language, 
the figure being a natural one, will be understood by 
the one who takes it literally in one way, while he who 
takes it in a spiritual sense will get a different idea. 
So whenever we attempt to teach by parables, there is 
a very great liability of diversity of understandings. 
I refer to this to show that in communicating by ex- 
ternal language, we are very liable to be misunderstood, 
unless we confine our subjects to the natural plane, 
and describe natural things by such properties as are 
common to all, and are accurate in putting them to- 
gether, when we may succeed tolerably well. But if 
we omit any of these essential particulars, there will 
be almost as great a diversity of opinions as there are 
diversity of minds to hear the communications. 

Many persons have thought that if they become me- 
diums, and could see disembodied Spirits in the Spirit- 
ual world, and see how they are associated together 
there, they would become wise. As a mere observa- 
tion of the vegetable kingdom serves simply to acquaint 
one with its various forms, but not with its uses, so a 
view of the Spiritual world might acquaint one with the 
fact that Spirits existed, of their employments, etc.; 
but the real interior truth, which is necessary to enter 
into you and make you wise, can not be acquired in 
this way. 

The idea that we can get perfect communication ex- 
ternally, when we are imperfect ourselves, is altogether 
a fallacious idea. We depend upon our understand- 
ings for the meanings of communications addressed to 
us ; and just so far as you are developed to understand 
perfectly, you may get a perfect impression. But just 
so far as it is above your comprehension, you are liable 
to misunderstand, and charge the fault upon your com- 



SPIKITTJ ALISM EXPLAINED. 107 

municator. The proposition is simply this : You and 
I can not understand infallibly what is truth, unless we 
are infallible ourselves in the determination of truth. 
That which, of itself, is fallible and liable to err, can 
not determine the quality of infallibility ; and when- 
ever an individual affirms, upon some authority, the 
truth of any thing which, by his acknowledgment, lies 
beyond the plane of his intellectual development, he 
asserts something unphilosophical and false. That is 
only truth which, in our minds, corresponds to the ac- 
tuality. It matters not who speaks, even though it be 
God; just so long as you must depend upon your un- 
derstanding to interpret the meaning of what is said, 
you are liable to get a falsehood instead of truth. The 
question of truth depends as much upon you as the 
communicator. There has been a great deal of discus- 
sion about the infallibility of the Koran, of the Shas- 
ters, of the Vedas, of the Bible, and of the Book of 
Mormon. It has all proceeded upon an erroneous idea. 
Although the book may contain infallible truth, yet 
since you have to depend upon your understanding to 
interpret the language employed, you may fail to get 
the truth. You need to be infallible before you can 
affirm that you have the truth. You hand me the 
Bible, perhaps, saying that it is the Word of God, that 
it was given by inspiration of God, and that every word 
it contains is true, infallibly true. Yery well. Do 
you wish me to receive the entire book of paper, ink, 
and calf-skin, to take the book and read it, and believe 
what it says? I must receive it as I understand it, 
and faith, therefore, corresponds to my understanding 
of the book. Is my faith in the book, or my understand- 
ing of the book? When a man affirms the infallibility of 
the Bible, he affirms the infallibility of his understand- 



108 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

ing. It appears that your faith can not be in the Bible, 
whatever it may teach. Your faith is only in your un- 
derstanding of the Bible ; and if your understanding 
happens to correspond exactly with the truth, you then 
have the truth. But if your understanding happens 
to be erroneous, your faith is in a falsehood. You 
affirm, then, that God teaches that which fie does not 
teach ; and you make your falsehood God's truth. 

I want to make this plain, for here the law of out- 
ward communication is abundantly manifest. Look 
the world over and see how many different sects there 
are in Christendom : Baptists, Universalists, Presby- 
terians — I could not begin to name them all over to- 
night. They all take the same book and learn from 
the same source ; and yet they come to very different 
conclusions. You may take any one doctrine which 
you may think the Bible teaches — and I will im- 
mediately find you a denomination who will deny it. 
One says that it teaches universal salvation, and an- 
other affirms that it teaches almost as universal dam- 
nation. Each man translates it by his own under- 
standing ; and each affirms that he has infallible truth. 
If they would just take this simple proposition, that 
that which is fallible can not determine the quality of 
infallibility — that upon these subjects the human mind 
is fallible, and therefore can not determine what is the 
absolute meaning of the communications — they would 
learn the source of all their errors. Men may be ever 
so honest, they will differ as a consequence of their 
constitutional differences. A man whose intellectual 
faculties are strongly developed, who will reason and 
demonstrate every thing rationally, will be a Presby- 
terian. Hence the expression " long-faced Presby- 
terian." It is very common for them to be long-faced. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 109 

They are very actual, never have much feeling, and 
sit perfectly quiet. The minister must do all the talk- 
ing, and the singers must do all the singing. The 
round, full-faced, emotional kind of man will not be a 
Presbyterian. You could not force him to be, because 
lie judges by a different standard. He would be a 
Methodist. He would judge by the standard of feel- 
ing, and must have a great deal of noise ; and a meet- 
ing is not worth a fig to him unless he can have a 
dozen round him shouting " Glory !" The Presby- 
terian, all reason, says God is omnipotent and omnis- 
cient; therefore He foreknew what should come to 
pass, and that, therefore, God foreordains whatever 
comes to pass. This is one of his cardinal doctrines. 
The Methodist says : "If that be true, man is not a free 
agent ; but I feel that he is." He decides from feel- 
ing; the Presbyterian from thought. They can not 
read the same book and come to the same, con elusion. 
There is a constitutional difference between the two. 
If they are to determine upon truth by outward com- 
munication they can not arrive at it. The man who 
feels pretty savage is ready to accept the doctrine of 
damnation. He feels that certain persons ought to be 
punished, and he thinks God will punish them. Here 
is another man who is all sympathy and love. He 
can not see how one man should, under any circum- 
stances, want to injure another man, and he comes to 
the conclusion that all men are going to be saved. 
He thinks that if God is as good as he is, and he is 
sure He is, He will contrive some way to save all. 
That man will preach the doctrine of universal salvation. 
So true is it, that phrenological differences point out 
different religious beliefs, that in almost any congrega- 
tion you can sort out the Presbyterians from the 



110 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

Methodists, etc. This is a truth that God, nature, ex- 
perience — every thing teaches. What is the use of 
quarreling about it, as long as we know that individ- 
uals hearing a discourse come to different conclusions. 
They do, they must, they will, and they can not help 
it. Until they come to a more interior plane they can 
never have one faith, one Lord, one baptism. 

Now you understand what I mean by what is called 
the external communication. Suppose the Spirits make 
a communication, they make it in words. These words 
only address your consciousness through your under- 
standing, and you make them mean according to your 
understanding of them. If the Spirit makes a com- 
munication by pantomime, it still appeals to your un- 
derstanding, and depends upon your translation to 
give it significance. There may be error in the com- 
munication and in yourself, so that the error will be 
double. It is in this way that very many errors which 
have been charged upon the Spiritual world, after all, 
have their origin in the mistranslation and the mis- 
understanding of those who hear the communication. 
The teachings of Jesus, I think, are straightforward 
enough, if you will come to the plane of understand- 
ing to which they were addressed. Being spiritual, 
they can. not be truly represented by natural ideas and 
language. For that reason he was obliged to teach by 
the use of parables, figures, and similes ; and when he 
had done the best he could, the disciples, being edu- 
cated in the natural plane, interpreted his language 
naturally, and, consequently, misapplied what he said. 
This is the fault to the present day. The truths he 
sought to communicate were peculiarly spiritual, and 
natural language could only represent them when used 
figuratively ; hence he made choice of such similes or 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. Ill 

parables as would convey his meaning approximately, 
yet not without liability of material error. Hence he 
declared to his disciples, with whom he had been so 
long familiar, that they did not understand him, and 
could not, until the Spirit of truth should come to lead 
them into the truth of what he had taught. Language 
could not convey the truth, else it would undoubtedly 
have been so given. He knew how to describe the 
things of the Spiritual world so far as they could be 
described, for the Spirit had been poured out upon 
him without measure ; but natural language could not 
portray the truths, scenery, and events of the Spirit- 
world. 

The only perfect mode of communication is the in- 
terior method, or communication by inspiration. As 
a means of becoming wise, it becomes necessary for us 
to seek by some means to come into interior commu- 
nion with the Spirit- world and Divine Being, since we 
can not by outward means arrive absolutely at the 
truth. If we will know that truth which is required 
to build us up into eternal life, we must ascertain what 
conditions are necessary to be observed to bring us 
into interior communion with the Spirit, so that with- 
out outward sign they can flow directly into our con- 
sciousness, and be written upon the thought or heart, 
as was said, "I -will put my law into their understand- 
ings, aid I will write it upon their affections," Thus 
truth must come to us without any recourse to Bibles 
or any rther standard whatever. It so happens that 
the mean's by which we are to attain to interior com- 
munion 8 re open to all. It is possible for every per- 
son to come into rajijjort with the interior spheres. 
According to one's ruling love or desire will be bis 
affinity or communion with the spheres of the Spirit- 



112 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

world. If that be high, his communion will be high. 
If low, his communion will be low. 

I will illustrate what I mean by interior communi- 
cation. Suppose that some of you have a pain in the 
head. After your best attempts to describe it to me 
by natural language, I might not get of it a correct 
idea. But by putting myself in a negative condition 
to you, I could receive the pain myself, and be able to 
understand its character precisely. You thus com- 
municate through the nervous medium interiorly. 
Many persons in public assemblies are liable to receive 
headaches of others by coming into rwpport with 
them. 

In each there is that which corresponds to all 
the media in the outward universe. There is a ma- 
terial earth, and I possess a material body. There is 
electricity, and I have electricity in my system. There 
is magnetism, and I have magnetism. There is a life- 
principle expanding all over the world, and I am in 
communication with that vital medium, and through it 
exert a vital influence upon others, and they upon me. 
This process of healing by mesmerizing is only coming 
into rapport, so that the vital forces of the healthy per- 
son enter in and strengthen the vital forces of the weak. 
Then there is a nerve-media existing around and in the 
individual, through which the pains of others are com- 
municated to him. Pain in another causes an action 
in this nerve-medium which communicates the pain to 
me ; just as my voice causes a vibration of die phys- 
ical atmosphere, which action is communicate / to your 
organs of hearing. The sounds I produce ha\ r e certain 
meanings attached to them. If you understand them 
precisely as I do, you get a perfect communication.. 
But any description in natural language of a pain would 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 113 

be inadequate. But when I receive it myself, I have 
in every respect an adequate idea of it. Yery often, 
standing near individuals, I have told them what 
difficulties they were laboring under by experiencing 
them in myself. It is in this manner that clairvoyants 
frequently tell what ails their patient. 

If I go on and describe your pains, there is nothing 
astonishing in it. I am simply in rajyport with your 
nerve-medium. I am sometimes wondered at for this, 
but I might be a fool and yet do it. There is no wis- 
dom involved in such a power ; and it is erroneous to 
suppose, as some do, that because clairvoyants can tell 
them what ails them, they can tell them how to cure 
it. These powers belong to very different classes, but 
they may be united in the same individual, and he may 
be competent to discover disease and to prescribe its 
remedy. I refer to this simply to correct the false im- 
pression that clairvoyance is a wondrous power. It is 
one of the simplest powers in nature. It is one of the 
powers that may be made use of to bless ; but if not 
properly understood, it may be made use of to corse. 
"What is true in regard to this nervous medium is true 
also of thought. You often witness cases of this kind 
in mesmeric and magnetic experiments, when the sub- 
ject and operator being brought into reexport, what- 
ever one thinks the other thinks — what one wills the 
other wills. The idea is transmitted perfectly. 

There is what is called thought-reading. This is 
governed by the same law precisely as that of which I 
have been speaking. One mind communicates its mo- 
tion to the other by means of a medium, just as I com- 
municate to your organs of hearing the vibrations of 
my organs of speech, through the medium of the at- 
mosphere. When I have a thought which is an active 



114 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

condition of the mind, which may be denominated 
mental action, it is transmitted to the Spirit-medium 
or Spiritual atmosphere, and undulates through that 
until it strikes upon that receptive mind where the 
same motion is communicated, and the same thought 
produced, and the thought is impressed upon the con- 
sciousness. The one receiving it perceives it precisely 
as its communicator. Such a communication does not 
depend upon the understanding simply for its perfec- 
tion. This is what we call interior communication. 
According to the elevation of our Spiritual sphere in 
the sphere of truth or love, as we approach the infinite 
and absolute, will be the perfection of this method of 
communication. If we are very low, it corresponds 
very much to the external mode. But as we raise, it 
becomes more interior and refined, until finally, being 
unfolded to the plane of the absolute in our conscious- 
ness, perceptions, and affections, we shall come into 
direct rapport with the infinite, and receive communi- 
cations directly from the Divine — not by any outward 
sign or symbol, but by the inflowing of the Divine 
thought and affection. This is the way and the only 
way that Spiritual truths can be communicated. The 
reason that Jesus of Nazareth did not communicate 
sufficient truth to the world to enlighten it, was simply 
because the world was not prepared to receive it. He 
said that he had many things to communicate, but they 
could not bear them. He also said that the man com- 
ing after him, living the life he had lived, should do 
greater things, because there would be a higher and 
wider plane. The world was too low, too animal, to 
receive his doctrine- For that reason he was obliged 
to go away, saying to his disciples that they did not 
understand him, and it was necessary that the Spirit 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 115 

of truth should come and illumine their understand- 
ings before they could understand him. 

If I wish to understand Spiritual truth, no man or 
medium can be a medium for me, and I can not be a 
medium for you. Jesus of Nazareth can not be a 
medium for one of you, nor can God himself. Every 
individual who would understand the truths of the 
Spiritual world must be his or her own medium. God 
must write his law upon your understanding, and put 
it in your affections. If you want to become mediums 
for interior communications, you must become abso- 
lutely true in every thought, feeling, and affection — 
become absolutely pure in every desire and aspiration 
of your souls — become absolutely just in all your rela- 
tions of life, so that morning, noon, and night you 
shall be inquiring and thirsting after righteousness. 
Such an individual will not need any outward signs to 
convey truth to him. But the person disposed to live 
in the outward world, to live in the enjoyment of his 
appetites and lustful affections, will require representa- 
tions, if he ever believes in Spirits. He has to be 
addressed as a physical or sensuous being. If he ever 
believes in a future life, the Spirits have got to come 
and rap him over his head. These outward manifesta- 
tions are designed to say to the sordid atheist, to the 
materialist, to the religious worldling, "You have a 
soul." It is for this reason that there is speaking with 
tongues, and that all the wonderful works are wrought 
in your midst. That is what makes Mr. Davenport's 
circles necessary for the vast majority of the citizens 
of New York. They are not sufficiently developed to 
understand Spiritual truth. These manifestations are 
necessary. They are not calculated to make you wise, 
but they can startle you, and prompt you to investi- 



116 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

gate; and they can give you such direction as will 
prepare you to enter into a higher and holier investi- 
gation of your relation to the world and to the Divine 
Father. It makes little difference whether they lie or 
tell the truth, provided they satisfy you that you have 
souls. If they were always to tell you the truth, you 
would, be too dependent upon them. You have intel- 
lectual faculties — exercise them, and you will never 
find yourself in a position where you can not find all 
the light you need. A great many people who believe 
that Spirits do communicate, can hardly go to dinner 
without the consent of the Spirits. They make babes 
of themselves, and afterward become fools. If the 
Spirits tell me to do a thing which my judgment says 
I should not do, I tell them, "I won't. I will do the 
best I know how ; and I would rather trust myself 
than you." I always get along a great deal better in 
this way than I would by getting Spirits to rap accord- 
ing to my expectations. They are not designed to be- 
come our governors. Sensible Spirits do not ask any 
such thing. There are ninnies in the Spiritual world 
as in this, who will be glad to become governors, 
if they can get dupes enough. The object of this 
external communication is to give outward evidence. 
The Corinthians had terrible times. Some people 
coming in said they were drunkards. Some said they 
were mad. Some spoke in tongues. Paul reproved 
them for this kind of talk. He told them that it was 
well to speak with tongues, but he would endea- 
vor to make some use of it, and would rather speak 
five words with the understanding than ten thousand 
in tongues. The tongues are for a sign to those who 
are not believers. The man or woman that is not 
established in the faith that Spirits can communicate, 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 117 

needs these outward manifestations ; but when estab- 
lished, it is all time thrown away to be chasing after 
these communications. Persons had better be in their 
closets, throwing their aspirations for a higher and 
holier life, and pray until, by their earnest aspirations, 
they call angels of the brightest spheres to come and 
be with them. They would find themselves getting 
along much better, and would give to Spiritualism a 
very different character from what it now bears in the 
wide world. I talk plain. I am in earnest. ~We have 
had nonsense and folly enough. It is time we become 
rational, learn the use of our faculties, and use them 
aright. 

Every thing has its true mission. Let, then, every 
thing be done decently and in order. If Spiritualism 
is that which is to redeem the world, we shall find it 
out by finding whether it makes us better ; and if it 
will not make the world better, we want nothing more 
of it. We need no more raps than will save human- 
ity. "We need all we can get for that purpose. If 
Spiritualism takes that direction, it is a God-send to 
the world ; and " in whatever sphere the Spirit can 
work, let it work. I bid it God-speed. But I say to 
all, that if Spiritualism, in its faith and effects, does 
not tend to make you wiser, better, purer, and holier 
men and women, it is good for nothing. That Spiritu- 
alism which will not redeem you and me will not be 
sufficient to redeem the world. Therefore let our faith 
be shown by our works — be exhibited by the influence 
it shall exert upon our lives and characters in making 
us purer, better" men and women — just men and 
women. 



MEDIUMSHIP— SPIRITUAL HEALING. 

When we make use of external language as a means 
of communication, our reception of truth does not de- 
pend so much upon who speaks, as upon ourselves ; 
for it matters not who uses language, before it can 
awaken the idea in our minds, it must first be com- 
municated to our understanding. Therefore though 
the communication may convey established truth, our 
understanding is quite liable to err as to the meaning 
of the communication. Though the communication 
were made by God himself, it might not convey the 
truth, because each man or woman would understand 
it according to his or her plane of development. The 
character of a communication is determined by the 
plane from which it is translated. The caution is, 
u Take heed how ye hear." 

However credible and truthful an individual may be, 
he may be mistaken, and falsify in respect to facts and 
principles communicated ; so that unless we have an 
absolute perception of the truth of that which is com- 
municated, we can not affirm that we have the truth 
upon the subject in question. In holding communica- 
tion with our neighbor, we find that A or B or C has 
always told the truth, and therefore when he tells us 
a particular event has taken place, we rely upon his 
word. Yet we know that he is liable to be mistaken, 



SPIRITUALISM /: .PLAINED. 119 

and to be under influences which may lead him to 
falsify, so that after all we can not Jcnow, upon the 
report of an individual, that a thing is true. It does 
not address that department of our being by which we 
are made as certain of it as we are that we exist. 
Hence we always make a difference between what we 
know and what we hear — between a report and our 
consciousness. One we say we know to be true, and 
the other we say we believe to be true. The difference 
is that between knowledge and belief. So if a Spirit 
should communicate to me ten thousand facts con- 
cerning my absent friends, every one of which I should 
find in every respect true on investigation ; and if, 
again, that Spirit should come and communicate still 
other facts, I can not know that such other facts are 
true. The fact that that Spirit has before told the 
truth is not a positive proof that it will continue to do 
so. I can believe the statement to be true, but, never- 
theless, my belief can not amount to positive knowl- 
edge. So that the questions often arise when Spirits 
communicate with external language, How are we to 
know that they tell the truth, How are we to know 
that they are the ones they purport to be ? When a 
Spirit raps out on the table, or speaks or writes through 
a medium, that he is such a Spirit, and that such and 
such things are transpiring at some distant place, how 
are we to know that he tells the truth ? We are not 
to know it, and can not know it. If we are to be 
accurately informed on that subject, that which is 
addressed to our understanding must come more in- 
teriorly into our consciousness than it can come 
through the ear, the eye, or the sense of feeling. It 
may be true ; and give me time enough to investigate, 
and I can determine whether it be true or not. But 



120 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

if I am to act upon it without investigation, I can not 
know. I do not care if all the Spirits in Christendom 
testify to it, still I can not know ; for that means of 
communication can not, in the nature of things, bring 
certainty — can not produce interior conviction in the 
mind. 

I may be persuaded that a thing is so, and shape my 
course as though it were so ; still I am liable to be 
mistaken. Therefore I affirm again, that this outward 
method of communication can not be relied upon for 
the communication of absolute or positive truth. You 
can not make it the basis of action as you can when 
you have clear and positive information ; and even if 
it should become as reliable as the ordinary communi- 
cations passing between man and man, still it will not 
bring sufficient certainty to make it the basis of action. 
I might give many other reasons why this external 
means of communication can not be relied upon as suf- 
ficient to give us the necessary information respecting 
our connection with the Spirit-world. It may give 
facts or tests which may prove to be sufficient to satisfy 
the mind of every inquirer that Spirits do exist and 
communicate. This is no unusual thing ; but the point 
is to make them the instruments of communicating to 
us such information as from day to day we need, and 
upon which we must rely. Those who do thus rely 
upon their communications, and yield implicit confi- 
dence to them, nine times in ten show themselves to 
be complete dupes, and make themselves the laughing- 
stock of every sensible man and woman. 

You will find in all parts of the country those who, 
if they can get a rap, say "Spirits, is it so?" and act 
according to the responses they receive. Nothing can 
be further from the true use and design of these mani- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 121 

festations. My position is simply this : so far as these 
outward means of communication are concerned, they 
are designed for those who can not get a more interior 
view of their relations with the Spirit- world. If an 
individual is living in his exterior or sensuous nature, 
so that what comes to his understanding must come 
through his senses, then these outward manifestations 
are useful and necessary to satisfy him of the fact that 
Spiritual beings do exist, and have the means of com- 
municating with us. But when he is fully satisfied on 
that point, he has received about all the benefit he can 
from these exterior communications. 

There is another important point to which I wish to 
call your attention, and one which, if properly under- 
stood by those who investigate the Spiritual phe- 
nomena, will save them a great deal of embarrassment. 
It is this : that that class of Spirits who usually mani- 
fest themselves through public mediums, either by 
sounds, by moving physical objects, or by any other 
means before promiscuous public assemblies, can not 
generally be relied upon ; and the reason is very ob- 
vious. It is well understood that an individual who is 
excessively sensitive to all moral influences — whose 
sensibilities are such that they can not endure the 
presence of that which is vulgar — are repelled by, or 
driven from, promiscuous circles or society ; and, con- 
sequently, those who can endure the common influ- 
ences of a public circle can not be of a very sensitive 
class. Take a medium who is exceedingly sensitive to 
external influences; who must be in just such a con- 
dition in order that the Spirits may communicate, and 
who requires that every mind in the circle shall be in 
a peculiar condition ; and place that medium in a pub- 
lic circle, and yoii can get no manifestations at all, for 

6 



122 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

the required conditions are foreclosed at once. Thia 
kind of mediums will not answer for the purposes of 
public circles ; but if you get one that will answer for 
such purposes, that medium will be one who is excess- 
ively positive — one who can resist influences of ever 
so positive a character. As that medium is required 
to sit for all classes, as a matter of course he must be 
in a condition to respond to the kind of influences 
which are brought to bear upon him, or manifestations 
can not occur while such influences are present. 

When communications are received through public 
mediums, the probabilities are that the communicator 
belongs to a very low plane of development, and that 
the communications can not be relied upon, whatever 
may be the professions of that communicator. 

There is almost always an influence which belongs 
peculiarly to each public medium — an influence which 
seems to be a presiding Spirit, which that medium will 
usually recognize, answering to the name of " Jim" or 
"John." It is generally the case that this Spirit will 
be found on hand first, and is the one to do whatever 
is to be done ; and he becomes the father, mother, 
brother, sister, or friend of everybody. I speak from 
experience on this subject. If this Spirit wants to be 
very accurate in telling you a name, he gets you to 
write down a list of names, and as your finger runs 
down the list, he raps when you come to the right one. 
If he knows the name, why does he not spell it out ? 
This is a very reasonable question. Permit me to ex- 
plain how these questions are often answered. In mes- 
merism there is at times a certain relation of the ope- 
rator to the subject called rapport, in which condition 
the operator can transmit his mental motions to the 
subject. In case a Spirit comes into rapport with your- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 123 

self, he answers all the questions you ask, even mental 
questions, and you come to the conclusion that you 
are really conversing with the one who purports to 
answer. If you ask whether you have a father, mother, 
brother, or sister in the Spirit-land, he will answer ac- 
cording to your perceptions ; and the tests seem to be 
very good, though the Spirit is constantly answering 
directly from your own mind. This often occurs in 
public circles. Another individual, sitting next to you, 
who is very anxious to get equally good tests from his 
Spirit-friends, gets no correct answers unless he hands 
his written questions to one who has been found to be 
in rapport with the Spirit. I once knew an instance 
of this kind. A doctor came into a circle with about 
thirty mental questions, to which he desired to get re- 
sponses ; but he could get no answers, it seeming im- 
possible for the Spirits to get the questions from his 
mind ; but upon his writing them out, and handing 
thern to a lady, who shortly before had succeeded in 
getting answers, they were all replied to without diffi- 
culty. The simple explanation of this fact is, that the 
lady was in rapport with the Spirit, and consequently 
her thoughts could be seen by the Spirit, while he 
could not perceive the thoughts of the physician, who 
was not in rapport with him. If you ask questions 
orally, it may be that the Spirit does not hear them, 
except through the medium's ears, so to speak. I 
might go on thus to great extent, showing the liability 
there is to be deceived in these public communications. 
The circumstances of a public circle are exceedingly 
unfavorable to getting communications from Spirits of 
a high degree of refinement. The most that can be 
obtained under such conditions is some external evi- 
dence of Spiritual existence. The point to which I 



124: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

wish to call your attention is the almost universal fact 
that mediums devoted to external manifestations, while 
under the influence of this presiding Spirit, are under 
an influence to deceive, to cheat, which is almost irre- 
sistible. It does not matter particularly how good 
manifestations they get. I have seen this deceptive 
disposition manifested in mediums who could get very 
remarkable manifestations, such as the movement in 
the open light of a table with several men standing 
upon it. Not that they themselves wished to deceive, 
but they were almost irresistibly controlled by the 
influence surrounding them, and which must generally 
be present in a large circle. I have seen this many 
times when I knew the manifestations to be genuine. 
A skeptic, however, notwithstanding their genuineness, 
would, upon detecting the slightest thing like cheating, 
pronounce them all a humbug. There are but few 
mediums who could resist this influence which comes 
over them at times, inciting them to help the mani- 
festations along a little, or to give them a little start, 
with the hope that they will thereafter get along with- 
out assistance. I refer to this to call attention to the 
influence to which mediums are at times subjected, not 
to condemn the mediums, nor to convey the impres- 
sion that all these public manifestations are cheats. I 
have seen many which were not of this character. This 
cheating influence is attributable to the incongruous 
mental condition of a large circle, where no care is 
taken to secure harmony. 

I offer these remarks as a caution not to get dis- 
couraged. You will meet with these things ; and if the 
enemy can once catch you cheating, no matter how 
many good demonstrations you have given for months 
before, he has no hesitation in publishing to the world 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 125 

that it is all a cheat. He requires the medium to be 
very truthful, but he has no hesitation in lying him- 
self. Being judged out of his own mouth, the enemy 
who takes advantage of the least deception on the part 
of the medium is as bad as the medium, and if he gets 
communications he must expect them to be marked by 
his character. 

Permit me now to call your attention to the subject 
of healing mediumship. Man, as we have seen, pos- 
sesses within himself the elements of all prior exist- 
ence — in fact, of all existence, from dead matter to the 
self-living Jehovah. These elements exist in him in an 
individualized condition. He has composing his form 
individualized matter of various kinds, as electricity, 
magnetism, nerve-aura, which are connected with 
matter of a like character which is unindividualized. 
I need but say that all matter this side the Divine is 
of itself dead — that all life and consciousness flows 
directly and indirectly from the Divine Being, and that 
there can be no manifestation except as connected with 
the Divine Being. The idea that magnetism, electric- 
ity, or nerve-force has power of itself, is altogether 
false. They are only connecting parts in the universe, 
uniting the Divine on one hand with matter on the 
other. They are mere media of communication between 
the Fountain of all power on the one hand, and the 
recipient of power on the other. Let us for illustra- 
tion observe a manufacturing establishment. One part 
of the machinery is perhaps concerned in scouring 
and cleansing wool ; another part cards it into rolls ; 
another part spins them into yarn ; another part weaves 
the yarn into cloth ; and another part dresses the cloth. 
Each of these parts seems to be disconnected from the 
other parts, and each seems to be accomplishing a 



126 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

specific end ; but you will find that all parts are con- 
nected one with the other, and all connected with the 
primary power in the basement. In the water-wheel 
or steam-engine there is a power which puts them all 
in motion. The parts next to it are negative to it, and 
receptive of its power; and these parts, though nega- 
tive to the principal power, are positive to those parts 
more remote. All parts are in motion, all moving as 
the primary wheel moves. Break the connection any- 
where between the parts, and those parts beyond the 
connection cease to move. But establish the connec- 
tion, and they will again commence their motion. 
Every part is negative to the primary power, but pos- 
itive to all more remote from it than itself. No one of 
the parts has a power to move itself, and unless there 
is a connection maintained between the primary power 
and the several parts, they will cease to move. So 
with all media through which potential manifestations 
are made. Electricity has no power of itself. It is 
only by its connection with that which is nearer to the 
great self-existent Being that it derives all its power to 
act. Next comes magnetism, which derives all the 
power it possesses from the power which precedes it. 
Next is the life-force, which is negative to all nearer to 
God than itself, and receives its power from them, but is 
positive to all others. Next comes the nerve-force ; and 
next the spirit, which derives all its power from the 
Divine Fountain. It is the medium through which all 
power is imparted to all that is more exterior than it- 
self. I have the power to move my arm — by my will 
to make potential manifestations through this arm. If, 
however, by any means, you break any of the links 
out of the chain which unites the divine in me, through 
my spirit, with the matter of my arm — abstract the 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 127 

electricity, the magnetism, or nerve-force — I lose all 
power over my arm. Bisect the motor-nerve, which 
connects my arm with my brain, and my arm will hang 
lifeless by my side. There are all of the media there, 
but they are not continuously connected with my brain, 
and through that with the Divine Fountain. But if you 
will throw a current of electricity down the nerves of 
my arm, you will produce an extension of it. So you 
may withdraw the nerve-force, or the vital force from 
my arm, and it will cease to exist. My arm will be 
no longer subject to sensation, because you have broken 
the link between sensation and matter. 

We then, as individuals, possessing in ourselves all 
these different media, which become receptive of in- 
fluences, must come into connection with the Divine 
Fountain itself, if we would receive power from it; 
for we can impart nothing which we do not re- 
ceive. 

As spiritual beings we become receptive of this in- 
fluence through our spiritual nature, but impart it 
through our lower nature. To become a medium of 
potential action or manifestation, I must have the 
power to impart to that medium through which the 
power is to be manifested. To affect you nervously to 
relieve you from pain, I must be able to impart through 
my nervous system that power which I received through 
my spiritual nature. To be able to operate psycho- 
logically, I must receive through my interior being and 
impart through my outward being — must first have 
the powers of receptivity, and, secondly, must possess 
the powers of impartability. It becomes just as neces- 
sary to have a good, healthful physical development to 
be able to impart, as to have a good spiritual develop- 
ment to receive the power. The individual becomes 



128 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

stronger as a medium in proportion to his develop- 
ment in receptivity and impartability. 

That Jesus was so much more powerful than others 
was owing to the perfectly harmonic development of 
his different natures. Our power to exert healing in- 
fluences depends upon our development. The higher 
we are developed — the nearer we come to the great 
absolute Fountain of all power — the more largely will 
we be receptive of that power. 

Jesus being fully developed in his religious and 
spiritual being, was in conscious communion with the 
Father and with Spirits of the most exalted character, 
and received largely of the Divine power. He was 
always aware whether he had the necessary power to 
perform any work. Being so fully unfolded as to per- 
ceive the causes of the disease to be cured, he knew 
beforehand whether it was worth while to make the 
experiment. He knew what was to be done to bring 
the individual into a condition to receive that which 
he needed to restore him. Therefore, when called upon 
to perform a cure, if the individual was not in the right 
condition, he commenced to bring him into it, requiring 
them to come into a certain condition called faith or 
belief. That he might perform the desired work, he 
required the assistance of those around him. When 
he went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, 
and where he was looked upon as an ordinary man, 
his right to teach was called in question, and his learn- 
ing doubted. What was his success there? Mark 
says he did not succeed, because of their unbelief. He 
could not command the conditions which were neces- 
sary to impart his power, and he could do no mighty 
work there, except to lay his hands on a few sick folks. 
Another writer referring to it, says, " He did not many 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 129 

mighty works there, because of unbelief." We all 
know that Jesus said, " A prophet is not without honor 
save in his own country." He had to keep away from 
Nazareth simply because the state of mind was such 
that he could not control the conditions necessary to 
produce his mighty works. 

"Within three weeks before his crucifixion, when 
going to Jerusalem to attend one of the feasts, his 
brethren called upon him and said, " If you do these 
things, show yourself openly, for no man doeth these 
things in secret, and yet seeketh to be known openly ; 
for," says John, "his brethren did not believe on 
him." Christ, even with his high degree of recep- 
tivity, found it necessary at times to call to his aid 
surrounding minds; and he could not always perform 
his work without faith being reposed in him. The 
question was very often asked by him, "Believe ye 
that I am able to do this?" When he had performed 
the cure, he immediately said "It is faith that did it." 
They had no faith in him as the Son of God, as sup- 
posed by some, but simply in his power to work a 
cure. 

I desire to enforce the idea, that if we wish to be 
mediums of high and exalted powers for the removal 
of diseases, it becomes necessary that we should be 
highly developed, not only physically, but spiritually 
and religiously. A high order of the absolute religious 
development is very essential to great power as a heal- 
ing medium, because this highest nature, this absolute 
nature, in man, much more than any other, serves to 
unite him with the absolute Fountain of all power. 
The highest development of this religious nature in 
man is necessary to give him a clear perception of the 
nature of disease and the means for its removal. The 

6* 



130 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

man who has this religious faculty highly developed, 
needs not that any man should say any thing to him 
of man, for he knows what is within him. Clairvoyant 
mediums know very well that that condition which 
enables them to see most clearly the state of the indi- 
vidual is that which is high and exalted ; for when 
their thoughts and aspirations seem to be ascending — 
like the odor from the flower — there is a sort of con- 
scious exhalation going forth permeating every thing 
around the individual, and he sees and feels clearly 
the condition of every thing by which he is sur- 
rounded. 

There is nothing in the world which summons the 
human being to such a degree of activity as that which 
we call the religious nature — there is nothing which 
takes hold of him so deeply. What other influence in 
the world could cause a mother to destroy her babe, 
but the stimulating influence of this religious nature, 
coming up as it does from the deepest fountain of the 
soul ? Make a man believe that his religious nature 
requires sacrifice, and. he will make that sacrifice, cost 
what it may, simply because his religious nature wells 
up so strong when it is moved, that there is nothing 
outward which can resist it. When the individual's 
religious nature is highly developed, it is more power- 
ful than all his other natures. 

We will become healing mediums just in proportion 
as we are developed in this religious nature, so that 
we shall become more receptive and perceptive, and 
be enabled to exercise stronger mental power to accom- 
plish our results. But a healthy physical development 
is quite as essential to good mediumship as is a high 
and. healthy spiritual development. Good organs of 
impartability are required. Secure a good harmonic 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 131 

physical with a good harmonic spiritual development, 
knowing that you are receptive on the Spiritual side, 
and impartive on the physical side." 

There is much folly connected with mediumship. 
That such should be the case with people so profoundly 
ignorant as the majority of mankind are with reference 
even to their having souls, is by no means surprising. 
Many people suppose that if their hands are touched, 
a Spirit has got hold of them, and is about to make 
something great of them, and they set themselves up 
as something wonderful. If they can perceive any in- 
fluence coming upon them, it is attributed to a Spirit- 
ual agency. It may be so and it may not, because 
there are other than Spiritual agencies. I once wit- 
nessed the curing in five minutes of an individual who 
had been blind for three years. This, told to the world 
as an instance of Spiritual healing, would appear mar- 
velous ; and if I had happened to do it on the platform, 
before the people of New York, they would have 
thought I had almost performed a miracle. It is prob- 
able that not a particle of Spiritual influence was 
exerted in the case. The individual performing the 
cure did not suppose that he was a medium, though 
some would not hesitate to publish it to the world as a 
remarkable instance of healing by Spiritual aid. The 
blindness was doubtless caused by a paralysis of the 
optic nerve, and required only a little action to restore 
the sight. The individual proceeded according to the 
usual modes of mesmerism. The cure was not half as 
difficult as it would be to get a sliver from under the 
nail, nor was it half as mysterious. 

A case of the restoration of hearing, by placing the 
fingers in the ears and taking -them out suddenly, is 
also within my knowledge. Such cases are frequently 



132 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

circulated as evidence that Spirits do cure. The cure 
in this case was doubtless effected by a strong mes- 
meric current passing from the fingers of the operator 
over the nerve of the ear. As honest men and women, 
we should be careful about publishing these things as 
instances of Spirit-healing. "We have abundant genu- 
ine evidence of what Spirits do. Attributing to Spirits 
that which is not produced by them, tends to make us 
dishonest with ourselves and our neighbors. Were 
due caution exercised in this matter, we should not 
need half the evidence which is now required to con- 
vince the world that Spirits do exist and communicate. 
"When it is observed that every thing is attributed to 
Spirits, the world will not believe us even when we 
tell them facts. 

I know that Spirits do communicate — do exist. It is 
not with me a matter of conjecture at all — I know it; 
but there is no occasion to make persons believe that 
every thing comes from Spirits. I ask Spiritualists to 
be more careful, more dignified in their investigations 
in these matters, and they will find that there are facts 
enough before the world to convince it of the truths 
of Spiritualism, when you can convince the world that 
you are duly cautious and not easily misled. I do 
not wish to lie for Spirits, nor do I wish them to lie 
for me. 



CONDITION OF THE SPIRIT IN THE SPIRIT-WORLD. 

In order that I may present the general condition of 
the Spirit in the Spirit-world in the most intelligible 
form, it will be necessary for us to enter into a very 
close and accurate analysis of what constitutes the 
Spirit, because if we do not well understand what con- 
stitutes the Spirit, we shall only be able to conjecture 
of its condition of happiness in the Spirit-world ; and 
if we are to have a close and rigid analysis of the 
Spirit, we can only have it by having a close and rigid 
analysis of our own conscious being, because we can 
know nothing but our own consciousness ; and if we 
are to learn of the condition of Spirits in the other 
world, that condition must be translated into our con- 
sciousness, and we must find it therein recorded, or we 
can only conjecture of their condition. 

Then the first point to which I wish to call your at- 
tention, is that which distinguishes the condition of 
absolute consciousness from that condition which goes 
to make up individuality — that which is universal and 
applicable to all, and that which is only individual and 
applicable to each and every individual. Every indi- 
vidual has the means of determining how much of this 
being — " I, myself" — belongs to the external and finite, 
and how much to the internal and infinite ; because 



134: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

that which makes me to differ from you is finite ; but 
that which makes myself or yourself one and the same 
with every other individual being in the universe, is 
infinite. Therefore the first point of investigation is 
to ascertain what it is that makes you and me differ 
from every other individual being in the universe — in 
what that difference consists — because when I speak 
of you as a Spiritual being, I speak of you in view of 
that difference, and not in view of that sameness. 

You understand that individuality makes the differ- 
ence between us. My individuality makes me to differ 
as an individual being from you. t The question now 
arises, what constitutes my individuality, this " I, my- 
self" — what enables me, when speaking of the events 
of childhood, to say, "When I was a child," though 
every thing has changed that pertained to my individ- 
uality as a child — thoughts, feelings, tastes, pleasures, 
form? What is it that connects the events of twenty 
or thirty years ago with my present being ? 

I wish each one to go down into his own mind and 
solve that problem, because if we are to talk about 
Spirits we must learn about ourselves. When each 
man understands thoroughly the Spirit that is at pres- 
sent speaking to him, he will be able to form some 
correct ideas respecting its condition in the Spiritual 
world. 

Upon examination, each will find that there is within 
himself a principle of absolute consciousness — a prin- 
ciple which is self-conscious, which represents itself to 
itself, and is not represented by any thing but itself. 
It can not be analyzed. It is absolute in itself. To 
prove to you that your consciousness of identity has 
undergone no change, I need but attempt to prove to 
you that you are the feame individual that you were 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 135 

when a child, by referring to scars made upon your 
fingers in childhood, which still remain, by calling to 
mind traits of your childish character. All these 
proofs you would consider very much inferior to that 
proof afforded by an affirmation within you, which 
rises above all outward evidence. It is that to which 
the Book alludes when it says, " As he could swear by 
no greater, therefore he swore by himself." Although 
in your physical, intellectual, and moral being you 
have changed in every thing pertaining to your finite 
consciousness, yet there is that within you which tells 
you you are the same. Let one change follow another 
to eternity, you will not lose your consciousness of 
identity. 

That which makes you differ from others does not 
enter into this absolute consciousness of identity. In 
other words, the thought, feeling, and affection which 
characterized you at any particular time of life has 
nothing to do with this absolute identification of self. 
Nothing by which the world knows me, or by which 
it knows you, enters in to form our inmost identity. 
"We have an identity which lies deeper than every thing 
external ; and it is this identity, which admits of no 
change, which says that we are the same, and will for- 
ever remain the same identical beings to all eternity. 
]STo change of position, no change of character, no de- 
struction of reputation, no conversion of happiness into 
suffering, presents the least difficulty in the way of 
identification. The man who has fallen, been ruined 
in reputation, and is steeped in suffering, finds no diffi- 
culty in identifying himself as the same being who 
was once good, respected, and happy. He does not 
say that there was once a being who was happy and 
good, but who has changed and become another being, 



136 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

but he says that the character and position of this in- 
dividual identity has changed, while his identity has 
undergone no change. I wish to call your attention to 
that principle of absolute consciousness in you, by 
means of which you know yourself, but by which no- 
body else knows you. You know that that principle 
in you does not constitute your individuality. It con- 
stitutes your personality; but that in you which is 
undergoing change, and develops from a lower to a 
higher degree of knowledge, constitutes your individ- 
uality. This unchanging, ever-present, conscious iden- 
tity is the very divine life within you, from which you 
derive all life. This outside identity, which thinks and 
wills, is no part of my immortal nature, separate from 
this divine principle within me. This outside con- 
sciousness can never be in any other state than the 
Unite. For wherever you have succession and dura- 
tion, you have time. Where you have succession in 
extent, you have space. In regard to this outward 
finite nature, one change follows another; and if change 
follows change, there must, in respect to such change, 
always be succession ; and where you get succession, 
you must necessarily have time. Hence the spirit, in 
its finite nature, must always be in time till it shall 
cease to change ; when progress ends, time will cease 
with the finite. This is a proposition so plain that no 
mind can for a moment be lost in considering it. 

"VYe can form some definite idea of the Spirit- world 
by first learning something of ourselves. You know 
that this conscious principle within me and you knows 
nothing about time or space. Suppose I instantly be- 
come unconscious, and remain so twenty-four hours, 
and am then suddenly restored to my consciousness. 
During this twenty-four hours there has been no ad- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 137 

ditional record of events made within me ; therefore 
that twenty-four hours is obliterated so far as my con- 
sciousness is concerned. I take up the time where I 
left it. To the unconscious there is no time. To the 
unchangeable there can be no time. Time is but the 
marking of succession. The inmost principle by means 
of which we become acquainted with ourselves, knows 
nothing about time. When one is restored from un- 
consciousness to consciousness, he knows instantly who 
he is, but he can not say how much time elapsed to the 
outward world. Clairvoyants who pass into a condi- 
tion of unconsciousness to all exterior things, have no 
recollection of what occurs while they are in that con- 
dition, though they may have been in it for several 
hours. 

I knew an individual once to be put into the mes- 
meric condition, who was unconscious in his normal 
condition of what occurred in the mesmeric state, 
though he was in it for five hours, and during that 
time performed many interesting experiments. At the 
time of sitting down to be mesmerized he was in so 
great hurry that he thought he could spend but a very 
few minutes' time. On being brought to conscious- 
ness, he started off again in great haste, supposing that 
he had sufficient time to attend to his business, show- 
ing clearly that he had not been in a condition to mark 
succession of events. 

The inmost principle of consciousness which identi- 
fies me of to-day with what I was thirty years ago, 
does not, of itself, notice time, except as it is connected 
with this outward part of me. It counts time by 
changes; but when you come into itself and separate it 
from those changes, it does not know time at all. Be- 
tween my infancy and the present time it has been a 



138 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

constant now. It is the presence of the infinite and 
eternal in man, and the means by which he is con- 
nected with the infinite and eternal. It is by the 
presence of this infinite and eternal consciousness that 
man knows that he possesses a finite and changeable 
nature. It is a lamp within, which shines out and 
reveals to him his finite consciousness, and the changes 
transpiring there. So man has two selfhoods, an in- 
ward, and an outward which is changing from day to 
day. 

When I speak of you as an individual being who 
differs from me, I speak of your outward, changing 
selfhood. But when I speak of you in your inmost 
consciousness, I speak of you in your inmost selfhood, 
in which you do not differ from me. 

It is by this inmost consciousness that I know that I 
am. It reveals myself to myself by just the same law 
by which you are revealed to yourself. There are two 
methods of addressing the outward selfhood — from 
without, and from the infinite within. Where the in- 
dividual consciousness is addressed from within, the 
communication is made to the affections, whence it 
flows into the understanding. Y/hen it is addressed 
from without, it is by representations of that which 
addresses it. But when I go to the Spiritual world, I go 
with this divine consciousness, this constant, unchang- 
ing consciousness within, but not as a principle which 
belongs to me, which is individualized within me. It 
is just as universal as God. It is the divine conscious- 
ness which is unindividualized within me, and wher- 
ever that is, I must be, because of the ubiquity of this 
divine principle. If there were any point from which 
this could be excluded, and into which the individual 
could be thrust, he would be annihilated. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 139 

"What we need is to bring the external consciousness 
into unceasing relation with this internal conscious- 
ness. That which does not come into such relation 
with this absolute consciousness does not become a 
part of our finite selfhood — a part of our immortal self- 
hood. Standing before you I perceive your counte- 
nances, because your images are brought into a certain 
relation to this absolute consciousness within me. 
Now when they come into unceasing relation to this 
unchanging consciousness, they become a part of my 
external, finite selfhood. Memory is the result of 
bringing events into such relation with this conscious- 
ness. 

Looking at man, then, as possessing an absolute con- 
sciousness which never changes, and an external con- 
sciousness which is constantly changing, and which 
alone causes one man to differ from his fellow, it is 
apparent that if individuality is preserved upon enter- 
ing the Spiritual world, each must take with him so 
much as causes him to differ from others. "Whenever 
this external nature would represent itself to another, 
not having a consciousness of its own separate from 
the divine consciousness, it comes under the law of 
exterior communication and representation. There- 
fore it is never present in the mind by itself, but by 
that which represents it there. If we would learn how 
it is that a Spirit represents itself in different places at 
the same time, we must learn the law of representa- 
tion. I see my audience, by which I mean I see that 
which represents you to my consciousness. You are 
presented to my consciousness by means of a medium 
which comes between you and me ; and according to 
the accuracy of my faculties to perceive, and according 
to the accuracy of this medium to represent you to my 



140 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

consciousness, will be the accuracy of your representa 
tion in my mind. 

I see you now by the medium of light ; and you all 
see me at the same time. I am here and only here, 
but you all see me in your various positions. You see 
me by means of the light which takes my image into 
every part of the room. Though actually present in 
but one place in this room, yet by that which repre- 
sents me I am omnipresent in this room. The great 
law of representation is that we perceive a thing, not 
by itself, but by that which represents it in our con- 
sciousness. Hence according to the ubiquity of the 
medium will be the ubiquity of the representation. 
In this room the medium light is ubiquitous, and my 
image is just as omnipresent as the medium. The 
same is true of every other medium by which presence 
is represented. 

I, as a finite spirit, am conscious only by means of 
the divine consciousness within me, which imparts and 
reflects consciousness to my outward nature. My out- 
ward consciousness is like the light of the moon, which 
is the reflected light of the sun. The real conscious- 
ness within me is that from which I derive my external 
consciousness. Whenever I, as a spirit in my external 
consciousness, would represent myself to you, I must 
come into some medium of representation — some 
medium which will be to my spirit what the light is to 
my body. The medium of light will not represent me, 
but there is a medium which will. This, the Spirit- 
medium, is vastly^ more refined and ubiquitous than 
light. Standing here as a spiritual form, and giving 
off spiritual undulations, just as my body reflects the 
undulations of light, wherever the Spirit-medium ex- 
tends, there my image will extend. And whenever an 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 141 

individual comes into rapport with this spiritual 
medium and sustains a certain relation to me, he will 
be able to perceive my presence, because I am brought 
to his view by that which represents me. 

Many suppose that a person whose mind is separated 
from the sensuous influences of the body, or brought 
into the clairvoyant condition, can go to a distant 
place, as to London, and see an individual to whom his 
attention is directed. He tells me what the individual 
in London is thinking and saying, yet hears what is 
said to him here. If the individual in London were 
to be thrown into the clairvoyant condition, and have 
his attention directed to the clairvoyant here, the two 
could readily converse together. Space is not noticed 
by them, though it might be by carefully going over 
the space and observing a succession of objects. Being 
brought into rapport with each other, each can observe 
the thoughts and feelings of the other. This is done 
by virtue of a simple law ; and there is no mystery in 
it. The medium which unites my organs of speech 
with your organs of hearing, extends through the entire 
room, and my voice is as ubiquitous as the medium 
which communicates it. So in regard to this Spirit- 
medium, which is the medium of communication be- 
tween the clairvoyants. By that medium, London, 
Canton, or any other part of the earth, is present here. 
Persons who mistakenly suppose that persons in the 
clairvoyant condition leave their bodies and make 
journeys to distant places, get up many curious theo- 
ries to account for the body and spirit being held to- 
gether. Their error arises from a mistaken conception 
of the actual condition of a Spirit. You see readily 
that a Spirit can be addressed externally only by that 
which represents that which addresses it. Apply to 



142 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

the case in hand the same law by which you see and 
hear me, and substitute for the media of light and 
atmosphere the Spirit-medium, and you will have no 
difficulty in understanding how it is that Spirits can be 
represented in different places. 

Persons sometimes meet with difficulty in explain- 
ing the apparent fact, that persons in the form are 
sometimes seen as though they were out .of it. I recol- 
lect several cases where persons were said to have been 
seen and conversed with at places very remote from 
each other ; and it was supposed that the spirits left 
their bodies and went to these distant places and rep- 
resented themselves. It is very easy to understand 
how my spirit can appear in real Spirit-form and speak 
to one a hundred miles away from here. It is done 
by what is called psychologic representation. If I 
come into rapport with any mind yet in the body, 
which mind is in rapport with me, I can create any 
spiritual image in your mind that I may see fit to 
make ; that is, I can cause the image in me to repro- 
duce itself in you — so that that image in my mind shall 
be reproduced in your consciousness, as the object be- 
fore the camera daguerreotypes its image on the pre- 
pared plates. Now suppose that between us one or 
more guardian Spirits are passing. The Spirit com- 
ing into rapport with me, and having a full and per- 
fect perception of you, can, by the intensity of his 
mental action, daguerreotype my image upon your 
consciousness. You then perceive me by the psycho- 
logical action which that Spirit exerts upon your mind. 
It is in this way that we can apparently meet and see 
each the others form, just as though it were present. 
But if we were more susceptible, there would be no 
necessity of having the intervention of a guardian 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 143 

Spirit. If we are both so developed as to clairvoy- 
antly perceive one another, the conversation can go 
on, though both are in the body, and you in London 
and I in New York. We see each other as though we 
were present one with the other. It does not follow, 
however, that my spirit is present in two places at the 
same time ; but that which represents it is universally 
present. The question may arise, why we can not, upon 
passing into the clairvoyant condition, see all the 
Spirits in the universe — because they are all in rapport 
with this spiritual atmosphere. I will explain. Sup- 
pose we have ten thousand strings strung from the 
ceiling to the floor, and they are made to give forth 
certain sounds. Now all that have the same degree 
of tension will give forth the same sound. The vibra- 
tion of one will cause all the others to vibrate which 
have the same degree of tension. Take any stringed 
musical instrument, and vibrate one of the strings. If 
any other of the strings has the same point of ten- 
sion, it will vibrate. Now when my spirit comes in 
contact with the Spiritual sphere and sustains the same 
relation to any Spirit that the strings sustain to each 
other, I can see that Spirit. Upon the same principle 
I may see all who are in the condition to respond to 
my spirit. When my consciousness will undulate to 
their conscious vibrations, I perceive them, and not 
till then. 

If a Spirit is not present, except by that which rep- 
resents it, it will appear useless to open doors to permit 
Spirits to enter, for a door is as transparent to the me- 
dium by which they are represented, as a pane of glass 
is to the medium of light. Jesus appeared in the midst 
of his disciples, though they were shut up ; and when 
the time came for his disappearance, he ceased to be 



144: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

seen, not by going out of the door or window, but by 
disturbing the conditions by which he was represented 
to their consciousness. 

In respect of Spirit-mansions, etc., in the Spiritual 
world, we are very liable to mistake representation for 
actuality. "We are very liable to mistake images of 
things — creations, so to speak, proceeding from the 
minds of the Spirits — for actualities. We are very 
apt to perceive animals. Some think that animals 
have a living form and exist in the Spiritual world ; 
but I pretend to say that it is not true. I know very 
well how they appear there. I know very well how it 
is that persons suppose they do exist, and why Spirits 
in the Spiritual world appear to have their dogs, cats 
— their pet animals. To them they are actualities. 
Nevertheless, I understand that the idea that a cat or 
dog has an immortal soul is not only inconsistent with 
any principle of philosophy in the universe, but is 
contradicted by every principle of philosophy. To 
say that a cat or dog is immortal is to affirm that to be 
immortal which God himself can not make so. The 
condition of immortality can not pertain to the mere 
animal being. The representations of animals, forests, 
fields, and things of this kind, have no basis upon that 
which has a material or actual existence in the uni- 
verse. They are only developed under the law of rep- 
resentation. Man has a sort of creative faculty, by 
which he forms the images which are mistaken in the 
Spiritual world for actualities. When Spirits are think- 
ing of animals they have seen in this world, they throw 
out their images, and the individual who chances to be 
in rapport with those Spirits sees these images, and 
thinks that they are actualities. 

If you will only investigate the law of represents- 



SPIKITUALISM EXPLAINED. 145 

tion, you will have no difficulty in accounting for these 
things in the Spiritual world. Man makes these — they 
are not real. God makes all that is real in the uni- 
verse. Man works in the sphere of representation, but 
God works in the sphere of actuality. 

Had I time, to-night, I should be happy to go into a 
careful investigation to justify the conclusion that dogs 
and cats, etc., are not immortal. There is no end to 
be subserved in their being immortal. If the animal 
were to go to the Spiritual world, there being nothing 
to address his consciousness, he would virtually 
have no being. "Whenever a mind goes where its 
consciousness is not addressed, it ceases to be mind. 
If there is any place in the universe where conscious- 
ness ceases to be addressed, there consciousness must 
cease to be. "What would there be in the Spiritual 
world to address the consciousness of the animal who 
has been developed only to the perception of phys- 
ical objects ? 

Again, between the nerve principle (the highest 
principle developed in the animal) and the absolute or 
divine principle, there intervenes the Spiritual prin- 
ciple, which, being developed in man, makes him 
receptive of the highest or divine consciousness, and 
makes him immortal. The animal lacking this princi- 
ple can not be immortal. According to aspirations the 
animal puts forth, according to its mental phenomena, 
according to every principle, the animal is not im- 
mortal. Nevertheless he has a representation in the 
Spiritual world, according to the law of representa- 
tion. 

Every individual who is conscious of an existence as 
an individual, has that within him which constitutes 
him an individual ; and as he goes into the Spiritual 

7 



146 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

world, he takes with him that individual^. This indi- 
viduality in its inmost joins upon the absolute, through 
which it perceives its own consciousness, and by this 
connection is unfolded in the facts, truths, and princi- 
ples of the universe. 



ORGANIZATION— INDIVIDUALIZATION. 

The experience of man has been such, in respect to 
organization, that all prudent and careful men and 
women are beginning to have fears for the welfare of 
a cause when it assumes the shape of an organization ; 
and they have just ground for fear; for the experience 
of the past has been such as to justify them in sup- 
posing that evils arise out of organizations. Their 
tendency usually has been to beget a party feeling, or 
that which corresponds in the organization to selfish- 
ness in the individual. It is natural that every indi- 
vidual should love himself better than others; and 
when individuals associate together, they acquire a 
spirit of individuality — a selfishness which pertains to 
their particular society or organization. Individuals 
who unite in religious organizations entertain a sort of 
selfishness in reference to their particular denomina- 
tion. The Presbyterian, for instance, likes Presbyte- 
rians a great deal better than Methodists, and the 
Methodist likes Methodists a great deal better than 
Presbyterians, and prefers to bestow his favors upon 
Methodists. In fine, the general tendency of this kind 
of organization is to lay in men and women the foun- 
dation of a selfishness in addition to their natural or 
individual selfishness. 



148 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

There are many reasons for the evil results of organ- 
ization; and if we continue to organize upon the prin- 
ciples observed in organizations of times past, we may 
expect that the same evils will continue. I propose 
to inquire whether there is not a natural basis, and en- 
deavor to discover the causes of evils for the past, so 
that we may know how to rectify them and guard against 
them in future. 

Every operation in nature tends to individualism. 
From the moment you begin to watch matter, every 
process is found tending to individualization. The ele- 
ments which now compose our bodies originally ex- 
isted in a general unindividualized state or condition. 
The material elements of our bodies, and the media 
through which the material elements were controlled, 
in bringing them to their present position, existed 
originally in an unindividualized condition ; and when 
each particle was brought under a certain process that 
it might receive vital affinities, it was with reference 
to the formation of an individualism. Nature labors 
constantly to organize and individualize, and you and 
I owe our individual existence to this tendency in na- 
ture ; and the same law operates in society. The fact 
that there have been so many organizations, shows that 
there is a natural tendency to organize. The great 
difficulty attending all organizations has been the de- 
parture from the law of nature — the law of affinity or 
attraction — for Nature works by the law of affinity, 
never by the law of repulsion or excretion. The law 
of excretion is only applicable to those elements which 
are to be rejected. External force has never been ap- 
plied by Nature to aid her. She does not bring ex- 
ternal force to hold the elements of the tree or rock 
together, nor to hold together the organs of the animal. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 149 

Individualization is the result of an inward power 
which attracts one part to cohere with its fellow. Ma- 
ture is very careful to observe the law of affinity ; and 
the moment you bring any element which should not 
enter an organism, repulsion immediately operates to 
prevent its entrance. 

Hate is at times defined to be a less degree of love, 
and love sometimes is very negative. Repulsion is 
also defined to be a less degree of attraction. A stone 
thrown into the air is drawn to the earth by the power 
of gravitation. But the balloon which is subject to 
the same law, instead of coming toward the earth's 
center, rises. It does not rise because the earth does 
not attract it, but because the atmosphere, for which 
the earth has a greater affinity than for the balloon, 
causes the balloon to recede and make room for it. 
The case of the balloon illustrates the law of excre- 
tion. The position which each particle is to assume in 
the system is determined by the vital affinities im- 
parted to it in the stomach. If any particle loses 
its vital affinities, it occupies the position needed by 
some other particle ; and the new particle accordingly 
displaces the old. But I wish to impress upon the 
mind the fact, that Nature's law of individualizing is 
that of affinity, and that [Nature does not apply external 
force to build up her individuals. However, before 
any particle can be taken into an organization by the 
law of affinity, it must receive a peculiar impress or 
affinity, and an affinity suited to the particular organ- 
ization into which it is to enter. It receives that affin- 
ity by passing through a natural process. If it enter 
without a vital affinity, it will enter in as a stranger, 
as a disturber of harmony ; and the tendency of the 
organism will be to reject and throw it off. What we 



150 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

here learn from Nature, we may apply to organizations, 
religious or otherwise. Each of us is a particle in so- 
ciety. But before we can be organized harmoniously, 
so that each shall be found in his specific place, each 
must be prepared for that organism by receiving the 
vital or spiritual affiinity which is necessary for that 
organism. You can not make A, B, and C into a 
community unless they have the true impulse, any 
more than you could go into the field and gather clay, 
sand, etc., and mold them together, and make a man 
or animal body. You can not hold men together in 
an organization by outward restraint, and have them 
fulfill the office of a genuine organization, suited to 
the development of the spirit. The method by which 
society seeks to organize itself is like the method by 
which God created our first parents. Each individual 
should be fitted to become a member of an organiza- 
tion by being placed where he will receive the appro- 
priate vital affinity, and leave the affection of his na- 
ture to point out his true position, whether that of head 3 
hand, or feet. The great difficulty in all past organi- 
zations is that the natural law has not been observed. 
Organizations have usually been formed with reference 
to exerting force, either moral or physical. They have 
organized by that which is external rather than internal. 
The first requisite for an organization is a nucleus 
of the character of the organization you wish, which 
nucleus may consist of one, two, or half dozen indi- 
viduals. The individual who is seeking to establish an 
organization must look for the nucleus in himself, not 
in his neighbor. The idea of looking out of yourself 
for an organization is all false. The idea that you 
must look to a distance for some being out of your- 
selves as a representation or reflection of the perfect 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 151 

attributes of Deity, is erroneous. The individual who 
feels the need of an organization must first understand 
that that organization must be built up by the law of 
affinity ; and that as each individual becomes a particle 
to be incorporated into the organism in his love and 
affection, he must grow to retain his position. The 
vital principle must be felt by himself. If he wishes 
to redeem the world, he must commence by redeeming 
himself. If he wishes help in redeeming the world from 
its various evils, he must first find in himself that spirit 
which he wishes infused into the helping association. 

If a principle has not succeeded in saving me, I need 
not hope that it will save the world. Therefore, when 
we are about to organize a society upon any principle, 
the first thing to be ascertained is whether this princi- 
ple has saved us. If not, we may just as well drop it. 
If a person wishes to form an organization to make 
the world Christian in faith and practice, you should 
ask him if he has been made a Christian in faith and 
practice. If he wants fidelity to truth and righteous- 
ness, ask him if he is faithful to truth and righteous- 
ness. Let the individual be tried by that which he 
wishes to accomplish. If he can not stand the test, he 
is not the proper person for a nucleus for such an 
organization. Before one mourns over the lusts of the 
world, let him look after his own lusts. So in respect 
to every thing necessary to make a truly upright man, 
a man who shall live in all good conscience before 
God and the world, and before the inmost of his own 
soul. Let him see to it that after he has made a per- 
fect examination of his own breast, there is nothing 
found lacking. Let him be so satisfied with his exam- 
ination of his own character, that he will be content to 
have mankind redeemed up to the plane he occupies. 



152 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

Then let his life be the incarnation of the principle. 
Let the world, when they look upon him, be constrained 
to say, " He has been with Jesus," if Jesns is to be the 
model of the church. Let his life correspond exactly 
to the high and beautiful ideal of the church he is 
wishing to have established ; and then an influence 
will go out from him which will become attractive to 
all who, like him, are thirsting for that life. He will 
find it unnecessary to throw out catechisms, because 
there will be the true affinity which will come forth 
from the character, and attract all who, like him, are 
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Form a 
church by the application of external tests, and there 
will be conflict all the time ; while concord will char- 
acterize one formed in accordance with the natural 
principle of organization. 

Spiritualists have become very numerous. I doubt 
whether there is any other class of believers so numer- 
ous as those now known as Spiritualists. They now 
number millions, and they are men and women who 
have come from under the restraints of authority — of 
external law — a " thus saith the Lord" — and have 
assumed the prerogative of acting for themselves. 
One article of their creed has attached to them the 
name of "Spiritualists." They profess to believe that 
our disembodied Spirit-friends are near to us, and hold 
converse with us ; and when any one says that he be- 
lieves in that, he is called a Spiritualist. That appears 
to be the only test. But that external belief or assent 
is not better as the basis of an organization than is the 
creed, "I believe that God fore-ordained whatever 
comes to pass." The idea that such an assent could 
be made the basis of an external organization is en- 
tirely unnatural and supremely ridiculous. If you 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 153 

should attempt to organize upon such a basis, you 
would be guilty of the error into which all previous 
organizations have fallen. 

Many entertain the idea, that because we have over- 
come our blind deference to authority, refused to be 
ruled by the " thus-saith-the-Lord" — because we have 
come to the conclusion to examine all questions for 
ourselves — we have taken all the steps necessary for 
our own reformation and that of the world. But what 
has been the influence exerted by this new faith — New 
Philosophy as it is sometimes called — upon the lives 
and character of those who have accepted it. You 
say, perhaps, that when you drive all the church 
dogmas out of the way, there will be nothing in the 
way of redeeming man. So far as you are concerned, 
they are driven out of the way, and what has been 
done for you ? How much better are you morally, 
religiously, than the man you call a bigot? You wish 
all the world to be converted to a belief in the possi- 
bility and actuality of Spiritual intercourse ; but sup- 
pose that all the world are converted to this faith, 
what are they to gain if it produces no better fruits 
in them than in you ? While we are trying to get the 
motes from our religious brother's eye, is it not pos- 
sible that we have very extensive beams in our own ? 
We are calling for organization to unite the moral 
power and energy of the millions of Spiritualists ; but 
if the influence of Spiritualism has not served to re- 
deem us, how are we to expect- that it is to redeem the 
world ? If Spiritualism does not save you, how are 
you to reproach the church for its inconsistency in 
sending its missionaries to convert the heathen to what 
they themselves do not practice — when even slave- 
holders are received to the bosom of the church, 



15i SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

while the slave toils in the rice and cotton swamps of 
the South, while the babe is torn from its mother's 
breast. If the church were to turn round and point 
out similar inconsistencies among Spiritualists, what 
would the Spiritualists of New York reply ? 

Spiritualists should see to it that the work which is 
wrought in them by Spiritualism testifies what will be 
its work in others. If it does not touch their own 
character ; if it does not make the false man true, the 
corrupt man better, what reason shall we give in favor 
of its being received by the world? "We have Spirit- 
ualists enough to convert the world if they were only 
spiritualized. There is the difficulty. It is one thing 
to be a Spiritualist, and another thing to be spiritual- 
ized. What we want is something that shall take our 
Spiritualists and spiritualize them. "We want to find 
some key which shall open up a fountain deeper in any 
man's soul than has yet been opened by these mani- 
festations — which shall call out higher, holier, and 
purer aspirations after eternal life than have yet been 
called out. We all know this. We find every thing 
on the right hand and the left to admonish us that 
when the whole world shall have been converted to our 
faith, it will be a bad world still. What then is needed 
is, that you and I set about a work which is peculi- 
arly intrusted to us. We shall then redeem the world. 

I must look for the coming of my Lord in my own 
affection. He must come in the clouds of my spiritual 
heavens, or he can not come for any benefit to me. I 
must place myself in that condition that shall invite 
him to come and reveal to me the way by which I am 
to be redeemed ; and then I shall learn the way by 
which you and all mankind must be redeemed. When 
all my falsehood, injustice, selfishness, lust, appetite, 



SPIEITUALISM EXPLAINED. 155 

and passion are dead, and when the God of heaven 
shall live and work in me, then there will be laid in 
my soul the foundation of that true spiritual affinity 
which shall go forth, not seeking others to unite with 
me, but, of its own plenitude, uniting with me those 
who have the same affinity — uniting us stronger than 
any creed. We shall not then be obliged to ask per- 
mission to join or withdraw from such a church as we 
should establish, but each man would join or withdraw 
according to affinity or repulsion. Each man will 
stand upon his own responsibility. I shall not be 
responsible for you, nor you for me. I stand not here 
to give you Christian character, nor you to give me 
Christian character. Each man must have a communi- 
cation for himself with the Fountain of all love and 
truth. We must all draw our water from the same 
well, and it will become in us a fountain springing up 
into eternal life. 

Each must prepare himself for the kind of church 
he needs. Let each seek to redeem himself. The 
Spiritualists of New York and throughout the United 
States will be ready to form a church just as soon as 
they have prepared themselves to give forth the true 
affinity ; and you will find that it will not be necessary 
to have any creed or catechism, any thing external by 
which to try the faith of this or any other movement. 
If you make up your mind to lead a true life, to speak 
the truth, to be pure and just — if you make up your 
mind that whoever comes within your influence shall 
breathe in of your truth and righteousness — you will 
find none will seek to come unto you unless they de- 
sire to breathe that atmosphere. 

The difficulty of the old organizations has been, that 
no man or woman supposed it was necessary to make 



156 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

themselves the representatives of that which they be- 
lieve to be necessary for the redemption of the world. 
Their faith was not in their own righteousness, but in 
the righteousness to be wrought in somebody else. 
They worked to be righteous by proxy. They hoped 
to be saved by the righteousness of another. Conse- 
quently they organized upon an external basis, as their 
organizations were not based upon a true affinity of 
character. They did not understand that they must 
possess the true character, consequently they did not 
labor to attain it. The individual seeking to form a 
church only labored to form a creed. He did not 
suppose it necessary to form a character which he 
wished to have infused into the church. The world, 
however, can never be saved until the false opinion 
that it can be saved by the righteousness of another 
is done away. The world would put away its lusts, 
appetites, and passions, were it not that it loves them. 
Although they do not confer the happiness the soul 
feels it needs, they confer more happiness than they 
know how to obtain from any other source. There- 
fore the world is not willing to put away its lusts, 
appetites, and passions, and to become absolutely pure 
and just; and if you will offer them a religion which 
offers to save them from the consequences of sin, and 
yet permits them to continue in their sins, they will 
willingly pay for it, especially if its ceremonies and 
the decorations of the church gratify the taste. If they 
can have nice things in their churches, it is considered 
nearly as good as to put them in their parlors. But 
tell them these things will avail them nothing, that 
they must love their neighbors as themselves, that they 
must put away lust, appetite, and passion, and yon 
offer them a salvation they are unwilling to accept. 



tffcsgttr %n. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES THE SPIRIT. 

The idea which has sometimes prevailed, that when 
the spirit enters the Spirit-world it becomes divested 
of certain states of affection, certain loves or delights, 
and that it becomes so changed in its character or sta- 
tion as to seek its delight in some other direction, is 
very general among Spiritualists. They believe that 
all our evil passions and affections pertain to this body, 
and that when the spirit leaves it, his disposition to do 
evil or to enjoy the fruits of his evil desires ceases. 
!Now, I wish to investigate this subject thoroughly 
upon principles which commend themselves to every 
individual's consciousness. 

That which constitutes me a conscious being does 
not differ from that which constitutes you conscious 
beings. So far as the element of consciousness itself 
is concerned — so far as it enters into the mind — it is 
the same in every individual. Tour individuality or 
mine does not consist in the fact that we are conscious, 
and possess in ourselves a consciousness, but it consists 
in that of which we are conscious. That which causes 
me to differ from you is that which comes into a certain 
relation to that consciousness. 

This conscious principle within the spirit, whether 
in the body or out of it, is the Divine principle. It 



158 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

is to this spirit what the sun is to the natural universe. 
It is the light and the heat of the Divine sun shining 
within the individual, revealing him to himself; so that 
if we become familiar with this first proposition, so 
that we understand one another, our deductions will 
flow naturally, and we can understand perfectly whether 
we are on the side of truth or not. Understand, then, 
that it is not the fact that you possess a consciousness 
within you, which causes you to differ from me and 
every other being. "We are all alike in that respect. 
But when that consciousness begins to shine out into 
your individuality, and look after your thoughts and 
affections which have arisen out of your individual 
development, and which have grown out of individual 
relations peculiar to yourself, then this conscious light 
and conscious heat, this conscious understanding and 
affection within you, begins to reveal to you your in- 
dividual selfhood — that which constitutes you an indi- 
vidual being separate from all other individual beings. 
That which pertains to my character, pertains to my 
character as an individual being. 

This individual affection which distinguishes me 
from you belongs to my exterior or outer conscious- 
ness. So then, when I speak of character, I speak not 
of this inmost principle which has never changed, and 
never can change, but will live on unchanged, because 
self-existent and self-sufficient — not of the God within 
— the Divine breath living in the soul — but of that 
which is exterior of that which derives its life, under- 
standing, and perception from the light which this 
absolute consciousness throws oat. That which per- 
tains to my character enters into my individual and 
finite selfhood ; and it is by what is found there that I 
am to judge myself, and the world is to judge me. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 159 

If you were to come to my inmost character, yon 
would then come at the absolute and infinite which ex- 
ists in me and in every other individual, without which 
man could not be a conscious being at all. Separate 
man from this conscious consciousness, and he would 
cease to exist. It is by the harmonizing of his finite 
perception with the infinite perception that he lives in 
God and God in him. All there is of life, of conscious 
being, is but a reflection of this absolute consciousness ; 
just as the light of the moon is but the reflection of 
the light of the sun. Extinguish your sun, and your 
moon could give you no light. Separate man from 
this absolute consciousness, and he would have no finite 
consciousness. Then that which constitutes you and 
me conscious beings here and hereafter is not this ab- 
solute conscious principle within, but that which comes 
into unceasing relation to it, by which we are made 
conscious of that which is. 

I have thought, feeling, and affection, which pertain 
to me as a finite physical being ; and I am made aware 
of that thought, that feeling, and that affection by the 
presence of this absolute principle within me ; but at 
the same time they do not take their character from 
this absolute consciousness. Hence we hear persons 
talk about forming characters. But character is to be 
considered in a double sense. All possess this inmost 
character, and hence it is said that every individual in 
his inmost is divine. But that Divinity, that God within 
him by which he lives, and without which he could not 
live, constitutes no part of his individual selfhood. 
It is the Jehovah in the soul, by which he is revealed 
to himself. That character in man, I grant, never 
changes. 

It is the external individual character to which I wish 



160 SPIRITUAL ISM EXPLAINED. 

to call attention in a special manner. Now that char- 
acter which makes me an individual being, and by 
which I become wise or foolish, good or bad, true or 
false, is constantly undergoing changes, and is devel- 
oped under laws growing out of relations which I sus- 
tain to material and spiritual things and influences 
which operate upon me from both the natural and 
spiritual plane. This finite character is the one by 
which I am to be judged. 

I wish to examine man in his relations to the present 
and the future, and ascertain, if possible, how much 
of this finite character will continue with him after he 
enters the Spirit-world, because upon this point there 
is a great diversity of opinion. It is really one of the 
vital points of Spiritualism. How, then, is this ex- 
ternal individual character unfolded ? It depends upon 
the ruling love in the individual, as well as upon his 
intelligence or perception. We know that the individ- 
ual dwelling in selfish lust unfolds his selfish character 
by doing that which he thinks will furnish him self- 
gratification, and we determine his character by the 
character of the impulse which governs him. The in- 
dividual who has known no higher impulse than this 
desire for self-gratification, finds it impossible to con- 
ceive that a person can act from a higher impulse ; but 
one who has experienced in himself a higher and purer 
impulse than that which looks after self-gratification, 
can easily understand how it is that men and women 
can act from higher impulses ; but still he may not be 
able to understand how they can act from an incor- 
ruptible Divine love — love in its infinity, in its spon- 
taneity, going forth of its own Divine fullness, and 
bestowing blessings upon all who come within its 
sphere. 



SPIKITTTALISM EXPLAINED. 161 

If we look out into society, we see individuals living 
down in the lower departments of their nature. We 
wish to reform them and mankind, and talk about 
Spiritualism doing wonderful things for the world, by 
way of breaking off the chains of superstition which 
have bound people down in ignorance ; we talk about 
its removing that superstitious bigotry which causes 
one man to persecute another for not thinking as he 
does. We expect it is going to diffuse a liberalizing 
influence, and thus reform, the world. What do you 
mean when you speak of Spiritualism reforming the 
world ? You mean that it is going to change the char- 
acters of those living in it. You thus virtually affirm 
that this external character that pertains to you, and 
me, and all others, is the subject of change. We 
understand, then, that your hope for the reformation 
of the world is based upon the expectation that the 
individual character shall be changed. And how are 
you to change that character? You hope to change 
the character of the unfortunate female, and place her 
upon a higher and purer platform, by changing her 
ruling love, correcting her false opinions and false 
understandings — by having a purer affection to govern 
her, and a higher understanding to direct her. You 
hope to cause her to walk more in harmony with her 
highest destiny. To persuade the inebriate to give up 
his cups, you desire to create in him a love and re- 
spect for the welfare of mankind — to implant in him a 
ruling influence which shall elevate his character. 

When you look at yourselves even, you see that 
your character is undergoing a change. When a boy, 
there were certain kinds of amusement in which I took 
delight. Moral and religious exercises were nothing 
compared with my hoop, top, etc. ; but when I became 



162 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

a man, and began to be manly in my aspirations, my 
character had changed. So it has been with us all. 
That within ns which we call character, we suppose 
must be forever subject to change. Each of us as we 
progress, hopes to change, to become wiser, better, 
purer. He who boasts that he has never changed his 
opinion, virtually says that he has not progressed. 
He who claims that he feels as he did twenty years 
ago, boasts of his own shame. Our hope to progress 
implies our expectation of change from that which is 
false to that which is more true — implies a change of 
this external changing principle within us, which con- 
stitutes our individual character — our finite selfhood. 

The question arises whether we shall take this dis- 
tinguishing character with us into the Spiritual world. 
We need not be left to conjecture here, if we will 
only enter into a philosophical examination of what 
will constitute our character. You see clearly, that 
what constitutes you an individual being here, is that 
which is external to the absolute consciousness within, 
and that when you lose this, you lose your individu- 
ality — that if it should be absorbed, your individuality 
would be gone, and you would be taken up by the 
principle of general absorption, and would cease to 
be as an individual being. But when you understand 
that that which constitutes you a spiritual selfhood 
pertains to your thoughts, your understandings, and 
affections, and that nothing outside of your under- 
standing enters into that selfhood, in which you live, 
and by which you know yourself, you will perceive 
that if you do not take that with you to the Spiritual 
world, you will take nothing with you that is yours. 
If you leave that behind you, or so change it as to 
make it represent another and not yourself, as a mat- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 163 

ter of course, when you go to the Spiritual world, you 
do not go there. 

The idea has obtained to a considerable extent, that 
this material body is the cause of our lusts, passions, 
and appetites, and that these will die with it. It is my 
opinion, however, that the body, so far as the matter 
itself is concerned, does no more to degrade us or in- 
jure us in any wise, morally, than does the matter 
composing any other material substance. It has only 
become an instrument receptive of certain conditions, 
as the horse-shoe magnet has become receptive of cer- 
tain magnetic conditions. We talk about the attrac- 
tion of the magnet as though the attraction were in 
the iron. But the attraction is between the positive 
and negative conditions, which are present in the iron; 
and when you bring the different parts of the iron 
together, you bring the conditions which they contain 
into proximity, between which the attraction exists. 
So it is with this material body ; it is made receptive 
of conditions. The matter entering into this body 
needs to go through a certain process, after it is taken 
from the rock, before it is fit to enter into the human 
system, because the matter which enters into the min- 
eral kingdom undergoes a certain change by which it 
is fitted for the vegetable structure; and is then 
brought into a certain relation by another principle 
by which it becomes receptive of another condition, 
which other condition is essential to it if it would 
enter into or become receptive of the essential con- 
dition. So that the particle of matter passing through 
the vegetable kingdom passes through it for the pur- 
pose of being made receptive of a higher condition ; 
and when it passes into the animal it has come into 
relation to another power, called the nerve-power, with 



164 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

which, it was not in relation when in the vegetable 
kingdom. It is brought under the influence of this 
nerve-power, and made receptive of another principle. 
And thus one particle of matter, in passing from the 
mineral up to the animal kingdom, goes through that 
elaborating process, simply because by being brought 
into relation with certain media it becomes receptive 
of certain higher conditions of which it was not before? 
receptive. The conditions do not change the charac- 
ter of the matter at all. They pertain rather to the 
spiritual than the material department of this being ; 
so that when my body is brought to a certain condition 
of development, it becomes receptive by a sort of in- 
duction of new conditions. Certain relations are estab- 
lished between my body and spirit. My body depends 
upon certain things for nourishment, and my spirit 
depends upon my body for certain assistance. These 
relations make my body subject to a law of conscious- 
ness ; but that law of consciousness does not pertain to 
my body. My body is but the instrument by which 
that consciousness is acted upon from the external 
world. "When I experience pain in my finger from 
placing it in the fire, it is not my finger that smarts, 
but there is a consciousness in my mind which experi- 
ences the pain, from the report of nerves which come 
to the surface in my finger. Separate these nerves, 
and I may hold my hand in the fire without feeling 
the least pain ; yet if the finger were pained, it should 
feel as much after the nerves were separated as before. 
Though the sensation appears to be at that point, it is 
after all in the mind. The body is but an instrument 
by which sensations of a peculiar character reach the 
mind. Those who have had arms amputated, have 
experienced pain seemingly in the fingers at times in 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 165 

consequence of the exposure and irritation of the 
nerves which go to the hand. It is sometimes conjec- 
tured that they have spiritual fingers, but it is not so. 
There are instances of persons experiencing pain seem- 
ingly in the toes, after the leg has been amputated. 
This is in consequence of the exposure and irritation 
of the nerves which go to the foot. Furthermore, the 
individual who has been mesmerized — who has had 
his mind separated from the sensuous influences of his 
body — may have his body dissected to pieces without 
experiencing any pain, notwithstanding the least injury 
done to the person who is in rapport with him will be 
instantaneously felt, as though the sensation were in 
himself. He can not be reached through his nerve- 
system, but you can reach him through the nerve- 
system of the operator, whose mental condition is im- 
pressed upon him. The sensation, however, is in his 
mind, not in his body, notwithstanding he locates it as 
though it were in his body. Numerous other proofs 
might be adduced to prove that though the body is the 
means through which the mind is reached, yet the 
sensation is all in the mind. Man makes use of his 
body for the gratification of all his sensuous desires ; 
all of which originate in the mind. I do not deny, 
however, that a sense of lack, not pain and disease, 
may be induced in the body by certain courses of ac- 
tion — by disturbing the nervous system. But that is 
a thing entirely of itself. But there are other influ- 
ences originating in the mind, leading the individual 
to seek gratification in horse-racing, gaming, sexual 
indulgences, etc. In ten thousand instances the stimu- 
lating influences to various, acts arise in the mind, and 
form a part of the mind. In the majority of instances 
the body is simply made the instrument for the grati- 



166 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

fication of lustful desires. Did the usual habits of 
thought permit, it might be demonstrated, in various 
ways, that lustful desires originate in the impure con- 
dition of the spirit. 

There are certain impulses pertaining to the body 
in its relation to the body. An instance of such is the 
sensation of hunger. I do not mean to say that the 
body has the sensation of hunger, but that it is awak- 
ened in the spirit by a demand which the body makes 
upon the spirit for material to supply its need. There 
are the sensations of thirst, heat, and cold — diverse 
sensations of this kind which come to the spirit through 
the body. But that impulse which leads the individ- 
ual to seek gratification at the horse-race, the brothel, 
etc., has its spiritual original, and flows out of the de- 
praved condition of the spirit; and the body is not 
responsible for it, though the body may be destroyed 
by such impulse. 

When we enter the Spiritual world, if we recognize 
ourselves at all, we must recognize ourselves by that 
which the absolute consciousness reveals to us. I do 
not recognize myself by the principle of absolute con- 
sciousness within me, but by that which it reveals to 
me. "When I go to the Spirit-world, I must take that 
with me of which I must be conscious, else I shall not 
take my individuality with me — else I become annihi- 
lated. Just to the extent I leave my affections behind 
me, shall I be annihilated as a spiritual being. When 
I go to the Spiritual world, I must take my character 
with me — that which is made an integral part of my 
spiritual character by its development in me. Of 
course, then, wherever I go that must go. The love 
which rules within me must go with me until that 
ruling love is changed, or until some holier love shall 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 167 

call me to a higher plane of action. I am prepared to 
maintain that when we go to the Spiritual world, we 
shall take with us all the loves, affections, thoughts, 
feelings, and sentiments which characterize us as indi- 
vidual beings. Every thing which causes me to differ 
from you here will cause me to differ from you when 
we enter the Spiritual world. I will retain my spirit- 
ual selfhood by the same laws by which we maintain 
our selfhood here. I believe the testimony of all 
Spirits who have spoken to us concerning it, is that the 
difference between the sensations here and there is so 
slight that it is difficult to tell when one has entered 
the Spiritual world. Many times have Spirits testified 
that they had to make many examinations after enter- 
ing the Spiritual world, to satisfy themselves that they 
had left the body. That is, their sensations, thoughts, 
feelings, loves, and affections underwent so slight a 
change, they did not recognize any change in passing 
to the Spiritual sphere. 

If that individual Spirit changes his character there, 
it must evidently be by some law operating upon char- 
acter. We know perfectly well that if you were to 
bring an individual into New York who has been 
given to a certain kind of pleasure, unless he can find 
the same channel of pleasure here, he would feel mis- 
erable. Let any one of you get in the habit of going 
night after night to the theater, and you will by-and-by 
acquire such a habit that you will be perfectly wretched 
unless you can go there. You make resolutions to 
break up the habit, but often break your resolutions, 
and will feel miserable until some other love takes the 
place of your love for theatrical amusements. The 
poor drunkard often, in the midst of his dissipation, 
resolves to put away his cup; but when again he 



168 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

comes in the presence of the bottles and decanters, his 
mouth begins to feel thus and so, and he can not help 
drinking. The habit is so fixed upon him that he can 
not break it up, unless something can implant a 
stronger love within him. 

As is our condition in this world, so is our state in 
the Spiritual world. How often does an individual 
feel that there would be no source of enjoyment for 
him in the Spiritual world if he could not find certain 
pleasures there. The beef-eater will continue to have 
a desire for beef, unless some other gratification can 
come in to supply its place. So it is in reference to 
every means of gratification. Upon the same law that 
the good desire the good and true, would the individual 
who has been a pleasure-seeker in this life seek in the 
Spiritual world for his accustomed gratification. 

In the Spiritual world the Spirits have the means of 
gratifying their desires. Beef-eaters have the means 
of gratifying their desires. Not that they have any 
Spiritual beef. They have a mode of getting beef there 
different from ours — namely, by representing it and 
growing it on their own plantations. Spirits also enter 
into their former pleasures by coming into rapport 
with those here who have tastes like their own. If all 
their passions and lusts are to be dropped, how are 
those to know themselves in the Spiritual world who, 
during a whole life here, have been dead to every 
feeling and sentiment ? Will they know themselves 
by their truth and justice? They never had any. 
How are they to know themselves, except by that for 
which they were known here ? It is evident that they 
must carry their animal impulses with them. Gratifi- 
cation for these impulses are procured by the law of 
mental sympathy — the Spirits getting into rapport 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 169 

with those on the earth who have desires similar to 
their own, and taking thus the gratifications in which 
they delighted while in the body. It is for this reason 
that so many dark, benighted Spirits are found reveal- 
ing themselves to the world. I am aware that, in 
these latter days, the idea has been advanced that 
Spirits, when they leave this body, get rid of all this 
filth. The truth is, the body was the cleanest part of 
them here. The idea that when a Spirit leaves the 
body he gets rid of all his impurity, has caused many 
to greatly venerate Spiritual communications, and 
attach to them much authority. I remember that it 
was with much deference that I listened to the first 
communications which came from the Spirit-world ; 
but I very soon learned that a Spirit was not neces- 
sarily wiser because of his separation from the body, 
and that he required quite as much watching as one in 
the body. Xot that they are below the world ; for 
when you have taken an average of the justice and 
wisdom of the world, you will find that the standard it 
could set up would not be very high. When you look 
over the earth and witness the very low state of char- 
acter of the human race here, why should you wonder 
that Spirits of a very low character should hover 
around us and manifest themselves to the world. 

There was some philosophy in Dr. Beecher's conclu- 
sion, that the manifestations were Spiritual, but devil- 
ish ; for the majority of these manifestations come 
from the very lowest Spirits. There is no use in de- 
nying it. But the fault is all our own if a Spirit of 
an undeveloped character comes in communication 
with us and controls us ; for I have power, which is 
superior to all their finite power, to prevent their con- 
trolling me. If I will live the life I should, I can be 

8 



170 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

protected from all such influences. If a Spirit of a low 
character comes into rapport with you to control you, 
it is your fault. It is because you are not in that true 
condition of soul by which you come into rapport with 
Spirits of a pure and wise character. It is neverthe- 
less unphilosophical for any individual to say that, be- 
cause there are low Spirits, he will have nothing to do 
with Spiritual communications. It would be equally 
unphilosophical to say, because there are good Spirits, 
that all Spiritual communications should be received. 

In respect of developing mediums, I wish to say, 
that if they are to be developed for curiosity's sake, 
they had better remain undeveloped. But if it is de- 
sired to bring them into conditions to redeem them, 
it is all very well. But no person should permit him- 
self to become passive in his feelings and affections 
while waiting for Spirits to come and develop him as 
a medium ; for in that condition he will be liable to 
be influenced by bad Spirits. He may become the 
instrument of one of the lowest and most debasing in- 
fluences, and may be- influenced to commit the most 
filthy and disgusting deeds. While the body should 
be passive, the affections should be ardent, the soul 
must send forth its most earnest aspirations. 

You need not read from the Bible or the Koran. What 
is needed is to keep your hearts right. Let the aid for 
which you seek have strict reference to keeping the 
affections right. We need to guard against being in- 
fluenced by those low Spirits who are waiting round 
us to seek self-gratification. If you wish to commune 
with Spirits, you yourself must determine what shall 
be the class of Spirits with whom you will commune. 
If you would commune with Jesus, you must come 
upon his plane. If you would commune with the 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 171 

Divine Father, you must become like him. You must 
assume the character of the class of Spirits with which 
you wish to commune. By observing this law we 
need not have so much of this low manifestation. We 
Deed a higher class of communications to convince 
the world. The objection to Spiritualism is not that 
there are not enough facts, but that their character is 
such that the world is not willing to accept them. 



JjttT tltlM* 



LUST. 

" Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts." 
— James' Letter, chap. i. 14. 

Lust may be defined to be the desire for self-gratifi- 
cation. The forbidden fruit is that which seems to be 
desired to make one happy, and is sought after, not 
for the purpose of supplying a need, but to gratify a 
desire. 

Man's constitution is such that there are needs per- 
taining to every part thereof; and those needs are in- 
dicated by awakening desires ; and when the need is 
supplied, a pleasure or gratification is experienced, 
which is a sort of plaudit of "Well done;" and all le- 
gitimate pleasure or happiness which man is constitu- 
tionally fitted to enjoy arises from complying with the 
proper demands of his being. All constitutional de- 
mands of the being man have strict reference to con- 
stitutional needs ; and the life and energy making that 
demand will not be disregarded. It will not suffer the 
being to find rest until the demand is complied with. 
It will create restlessness and disquiet ; and the indi- 
vidual will give expression to that life and energy in 
some direction, if he does not in the true one. 

Man possesses within him immortal energies, or he 
could not be immortal. He has that which is essen- 
tially being and life, and which can not be destroyed. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 173 

Hence his divine energies will act with omnipotent 
power to him, and he will be constrained to submit. 

Here, then, is to be found the fundamental distinc- 
tion between true and false impulse — true and false 
action. That impulse which arises within, indicating 
a need of some department of our being, is true and 
legitimate ; and all proper action which tends to sup- 
ply that demand, without conflicting with any other 
need, is true action. All other action and impulse are 
illegitimate. The distinction between the two classes 
of impulse and action is easily made, by an appeal to 
our own consciousness. By a careful examination, we 
can tell at once whether the impulse to perform any 
act for ourselves arises from a sense of need or from a 
desire of .self-gratification ; and whether the impulse 
to perform any act for others arises from a near or re- 
mote prospect of self-gain, or from a sense of fitness, 
justice, or goodness of the act, in forgetfulness of sep- 
arate self. 

In the very outset I postulate the following as unde- 
niable truth : All true desire in man has respect to a 
need of some department of his being, which, when 
truly supplied, will harmoniously develop him in re- 
spect to every other department of his being, and 
also in respect to all other beings necessarily con- 
nected with him. That all true happiness or enjoy- 
ment which he is capable of possessing must flow as 
a consequence of truly supplying these needs ; and 
that while every need of his being is fully supplied, 
he will be in the enjoyment of all the happiness he is 
capable of desiring, and consequently will not desire 
happiness on its own account. 

I postulate further ; that until every need is sup- 
plied, ?xian will feel a sense of lack, a desire for some. 



174 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

thing which he does not possess, the tendency of 
which will be to stimulate him to activity in some di- 
rection ; and unless his activity is directed to the proper 
supplying of the need, it will be misdirected, and will 
tend to deprave rather than to improve his being. 

Hence I postulate further, that when man feels within 
himself a desire for happiness, he has demonstrable 
evidence that these are needs of his being which have 
not been supplied ; and any attempt to fulfill his de- 
sire, short of finding out and supplying the true need, 
will be derogatory to his highest good and destiny, and 
will consequently fail of conferring that which he 
seeks, happiness. 

I therefore postulate further, that happiness or en- 
joyment is not to be sought; that if it come at all, it 
must come unsought ; that it is a necessary and insep- 
arable incident of the true life, by which is meant that 
life which in its activity fulfills its every need. That 
happiness which is sought after is never found, simply 
because it is not an end, but only an incident of being ; 
and that while man is absorbed in the pursuit of pleas- 
ure, he must necessarily be unmindful of his needs, 
and thereby he will neglect their demands. 

Here we have the foundation laid for examining the 
distinction between the true impulse, known as love in 
the various planes of unfolding, and that which is to 
be characterized as lust. The true impulse is that which 
indicates a need of some department of our being, and 
which prompts to activity, looking to the supply of 
that need, independent of any gratification which it 
may promise. The false impulse is that which prompts 
to activity, not in respect to any specific need, but in 
respect to the gratification which it may afford. This 
latter impulse is known as lust. 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 175 

For the purpose of distinction I shall denominate 
the true impulse, love, as being a manifestation of the 
Divine Father's wisdom and goodness, in whatever 
plane it may be found ; and I shall denominate the 
false impulse, lust, as being a manifestation of that 
which tends to lead to selfishness and antagonism, and 
makes the interests of finite self overrule those of in- 
finite self, or the selfhood of the divine. 

In the scale of being there is every plane of unfold- 
ing, from the unconscious to the divine consciousness ; 
that is, there is every sphere of divine action and mani- 
festation, from the monad to the highest angel, and con- 
sequently there are many degrees of love as the true 
impulse to action. It has its sphere in the plane of 
physical need, in the plane of intellectual and moral 
need, and in the plane of religious need ; and it is ex- 
alted just in proportion as it approaches the absolute 
or divine. 

As there is a true impulse belonging to every plane 
of unfolding, begetting the proper enjoyment in the 
conscious plane when its demand is properly complied 
with, so also is there every degree of lustful desire 
seeking gratification in every plane, differing in gross- 
ness according to the means by which it seeks its 
gratification. 

Reflection will satisfy every truth-seeking mind that 
desire for self- gratification, as an impulse to action, has 
its basis in self; and, from its nature, makes itself the 
center of attraction, and becomes a sort of an absorb- 
ent, seeking self-appropriation ; and whenever it makes 
an expenditure, it is with respect to that which is to 
return. And it never gives without the hope of re- 
ceiving in return a full equivalent. 

This principle of action is from its nature finite and 



176 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

antagonistic, upon the principle that that which it 
seeks to appropriate to its own benefit and make its 
own, can not at the same time be appropriated by 
another; and hence the desire of self-appropriation 
naturally leads the individual into antagonism with 
others. 

This finite and selfish impulse is the very opposite 
of the infinity and unselfishness of the divine. Its 
imperfect and antagonistic rule of action can not har- 
monize with the perfection and harmonic action of the 
divine. As the finite in every respect is the negative 
and opposite of the infinite, so this finite impulse in 
the individual is in every respect the negative and 
opposite of the divine impulse. It is for this cause 
that there is such an antagonism between the principle 
of love and the principle of lust; an antagonism which 
must continue until the divine shall bring all into sub- 
jection — until the finite shall, in its principle of action, 
harmonize in the infinite, or until God shall become 
all in all. 

Having already postulated that all true and legiti- 
mate desire in the individual has strict reference to the 
needs of the individual, independent of any promised 
gratification, and that the gratification incident to the 
supply of such needs was the measure of all true finite 
happiness, I now proceed to illustrate this truth by an 
appeal to the experience of all who hear me. 

Happiness, in its general sense, is the fulfillment of 
desire. And the more complete is the fulfillment of 
every desire, the more complete is the happiness ; and 
happiness can not be perfect until every desire is ful- 
filled. If in fulfilling the desire of one department of 
our being we neglect the needs and consequent de- 
mands of another, we may obtain temporary gratifica- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 177 

tion, but it does not answer the full demand of our 
being so as to confer happiness. On the contrary, 
while we gratify a lust, we resist a true demand, and 
purchase gratification by disease and suffering. 

The individual, ignorant or unmindful of the true 
demands of his being, and intent upon self gratifica- 
tion, must forever fail of obtaining happiness, because 
in his lustful pursuit he does not heed the real demands 
of his entire being, and therefore he does not minister 
to their needs ; and hence can not obtain ease and 
satisfaction. All pleasure-seekers can testify as they 
have testified, that their pleasures are more in antici- 
pation than participation. Their happiness is in the 
future, and seldom if ever in the present. The time 
never comes when they find every desire gratified, and 
consequently they are never quite contented, there- 
fore never quite happy. The very desire after happi- 
ness is that which defeats it. The finite belongs to the 
present; ike past is his schoolmaster, teaching him in 
the presejit how to receive the future. His duties and 
needs are of to-day, and those which pertain to the 
morrow will come on the morrow, not before. ' ; Suffi- 
cient unto the day are the evils thereof,"and sufficient 
unto the day are the duties 2cn.& pleasures thereof. Man 
can not take being and existence by anticipation, 
neither can he take their true incidents in that way. 
All anticipations of. pleasure by which the individual 
is made to live in the future, to the neglect of the pres- 
ent, are lustful and illegitimate, and antagonize with 
man's true nature and destiny, and consequently tend 
to defeat true happiness. That this is so, all human ex- 
perience affirms. That this must be 60, the philosophy 
of true happiness demonstrates. 

There is no room for controversy upon this point. 
8* 



178 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

It is most evident that true happiness can only flow to 
the finite by fulfilling the true desires of the finite, 
and that complete satisfaction can only take place when 
every true desire or demand is complied with. 

Now it must follow that every true desire is indica- 
tive of a real need of the being in which it exists; 
and consequently when every need is supplied, every 
true desire must be gratified, and true happiness must 
be the result. And as every need has respect to that 
which pertains to the present, every true desire belongs 
to the present, and asks present fulfillment. 

From considerations of this kind it becomes evi- 
dent that anticipated pleasures are illegitimate, and 
belong to the school of lusts, and do not tend to beget 
true happiness ; and that just in proportion as the indi- 
vidual is absorbed in the anticipated pleasures or duties 
of the morrow, he is disregarding the true law of his 
being, neglecting present needs, and laying the foun- 
dation for defeating the very end he seeks. Man, as a 
physical, intellectual, moral, and religious being, has 
needs pertaining to each and every department thereof, 
and consequently in supplying these needs he becomes 
receptive of pleasure from every department of his 
being. When he is truly and harmoniously unfolded, 
all his needs are orderly and harmoniously set forth ; 
and when he truly complies with their demand, his 
delights or gratifications blend or flow together in one 
harmonious stream, and his whole soul is filled with 
the divinest melody, instinct with the present God. 
But note, the moment he neglects a single need, or 
misdirects the energies of his being, there is not only 
a strain which is not represented in the choral anthem 
of God, but it is caused to vibrate discordantly with 
those strains which are represented, and instead of a 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. if 9 

soul pulsating with the divinest melody and joy, you 
have it harshly jarring to the discordant notes of an* 
tagonisni and death. 

The principles of this philosophy affirm that man 
must attend to the needs of every department of his 
being, if he would develop harmoniously. The Divine, 
in the plenitude of his wisdom, has given to man 
nothing superfluous. His physical body, with its 
needs, is just as essential to the perfect man as is his 
spiritual being ; and its demands are as imperative in 
their sphere. And man is as really obeying the Di- 
vine in truly administering to his physical as to his 
spiritual needs ; and the pleasures attending the true 
administration are as true and just in their sphere as 
are those pertaining to more exalted spheres of being 
and action. He who despises and afflicts his body to 
benefit his soul mistakes the divine order and method, 
and in afflicting his body wars with the true interests 
and destiny of his immortal being. The disposition to 
afflict the body for the benefit of the soul is that higher 
manifestation of the selfish and lustful principle turn- 
ing its weapons purposely upon itself. Its aim is self- 
gain, and, through that, self-gratification. Hence the 
cloistered nun, the solitary monk, and the stern ascetic, 
of whatever school, are violating the divine method 
and law as much as is the pleasure-seeking worldling. 
They are as really under the dominion of their lusts 
for self-gratification as any other class. Their expend- 
iture of worldly pleasure has respect to the spiritual, 
which they hope thereby to obtain; and, like any other 
selfish being, they only act with respect to some ex- 
pected gain, bringing with it enjoyment or gratifica- 
tion. 

The great error of the world is that it does not dis- 



180 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

tinguish between the true and false impulse, giving 
rise to true and false action, out of which grows true 
and false development, bringing existence into antag- 
onism and false relation. 

Said the Divine Teacher, speaking of little children, 
" Of such is the kingdom of heaven." The infant at 
birth instinctively obeys the law of its being, and it 
continues to do so in every department of its being 
which does not come under the rule of its conscious, 
voluntary action. When it feels the demand for food 
to nourish and develop its infantile body, it indicates 
that demand by its restlessness and complainings ; and 
when the demand is supplied, its complainings cease. 
It does not ask for gratification beyond the supply of 
its needs ; that it does ask for, and must have to give 
it quiet. During this early period it eats to live, and 
continues to do so until, by its development, another 
nature with its needs is brought into conscious exist- 
ence, and neglected. Then the unsatisfied demands of 
that other nature impart disquiet to the being, and he 
begins to search after gratification. It is in this way 
that lust is begotten. It is never felt until the demand 
of some need is neglected, and it is an immutable law 
that such neglect must beget lust ; and hence whoever 
feels the demand for gratification of any sort hears the 
voice of God within proclaiming a neglected demand, 
a perishing need. He sees the cherubim of God stand- 
ing at the gate of Paradise, with a drawn sword of 
flame turning in every direction, guarding the tree of 
life. Thus man's lusts proclaim his imperishable needs, 
and, when truly understood, they are but the echo of 
God's voice calling upon him to return and live. 

The child naturally comes under the dominion of its 
lusts through ignorance. It feels the disquieting influ- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 181 

ence of its neglected needs ; it feels discontented and 
unhappy, and therefore it seeks gratification in such 
direction as experience has taught it it might some- 
times be found. He early learns the pleasures of 
sense. He could not comply with the demands of his 
physical nature without knowing them ; hence, when 
he feels a demand for something — he does not know 
what — what more natural than that he should seek 
sensual gratification. Thus it is according to the figure, 
that man partakes of the forbidden fruit before his eyes 
are opened to know good and evil. His first disobe- 
dience is in consequence of his ignorance- of the nature 
and requirements of his needs ; and, seeking to obtain 
gratification, he violates the true law of his being. 
But as man has needs pertaining to his physical, intel- 
lectual, moral, and religious natures, and as there are 
pleasures pertaining to the proper supplying of them, 
man's lusts may lead him to act in either the physical, 
intellectual, or moral and religious departments ; and, 
as already remarked, the grossness of the lust will de- 
pend upon the plan and the means by which it seeks 
gratification. Reflection will demonstrate that the 
different lusts, as they are called, differ not in the pri- 
mary impulse, but differ in the manner of seeking 
gratification. Man, in the external and finite of his 
being, may be differently affected by the _ different 
modes of gratification which his lust prompts him to 
seek. Thus the physical effect produced upon him by 
seeking gratification through his appetite for strong 
drink, will be different from that produced upon him 
by seeking gratification through his relish for food or 
social amusement. Seeking gratification through the 
improper exercise of any of the faculties of the body 
or mind tends to produce injury in two ways. 



182 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

First, the tendency is to call off the attention from 
the actual needs of the being, so that the proper 
demands are neglected, and thereby lustful desires 
become intensified by the influx of an unnatural degree 
of energy in that false direction. And second, by over- 
taxing the capacity of those organs which are used for 
lustful gratification. Thus the inebriate and glutton 
who make use of their appetites as a means of gratifi- 
cation, often weaken and disease the organs of diges- 
tion and assimilation, and thereby disqualify them for 
performing their proper functions. Man can not en- 
gage in lustful exercises without subjecting himself to 
these twofold evils. And their manifestation will be 
according to the plane of the lust and the means adopted 
for its gratification. But while lusts differ thus in 
their modes of expression, as well as in their primary 
and secondary effects upon the individual, they are all 
alike in their inception, and in the end sought to be 
attained. They all have their beginning in the neglect 
of some need, which creates a sense of lack, and they 
all seek self- gratification irrespective of such need; so 
that all lust, in whatever plane found, is alike in its 
origin and end. All are fatal to true happiness. 

The general sameness of character of all lusts ac- 
counts for the singular compounds and apparent incon- 
gruities of character found in certain individuals. That 
is, it is not unfrequent to find individuals remarkable 
for their zeal in politics, morals, and religion, carried 
away at times by the grossest lusts. Men, eminent for 
their piety, sometimes have been notorious for their 
intemperance and lewdness ; and the world have been 
astonished at it. But a careful attention to the dis- 
tinction to be made between the true impulse and lust 
soon solvesthe mystery. Such men are pre-eminently 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 183 

under the influence of lust in every department of their 
being — in the moral and religious as well as in the 
physical. The piety of such men may be ever so deep 
and earnest, yet its basis is in use. They see nothing 
in the Divine character or perfections which excites in 
them love or admiration any further than it is to bear 
upon their own well-being and happiness. Their love 
of God is a love of the instrument or means by which 
they are to become supremely blessed. And their 
love, after all, is a love of their own happiness, and of 
God as essential to their happiness. If they should 
discover that God stood in the way of their future en- 
joyment, they would like him no better than any other 
enemy. 

Such minds mistake lust for love, and in seeking 
their own happiness call it seeking God ; and in re- 
joicing in their anticipations, call it rejoicing in God. 
The man that seeks religion for the sake of securing to 
himself salvation and endless delight, is just as lustful 
and selfish as he who seeks gratification in any other 
way. Man may go a whoring after strange gods as 
well as after strange women. 

Those who appeal to men to get religion in order 
that they may escape misery and secure happiness, 
appeal to their lusts, and so far as they influence them 
by their appeals to their hopes and fears, they stimu- 
late them to lust. The individual who seeks religion 
for the purpose of saving his soul, is exercising the 
very impulse which most of all tends to defeat his sal- 
vation. Hence said Jesus upon this very point, 
" Whosoever seeketh to save his life shall lose it," etc. 
The very impulse is as selfish and undivine as possible. 
It is for this very reason that the influence of the popu 
lai religions of the day is not redemptive in its charac 



184: SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

ter. To say to the world that when all should be con- 
verted to the religion of these fashionable churches, 
the millennium would come, would provoke in the 
highest degree their sense of the ludicrous. Their 
lustful seeking after self- gratification is so apparent 
and gross, that they can not even deceive themselves. 

It will not be considered a false declaration when I 
say, that there is no possible resemblance of character 
or practice between these modern fashionable Chris- 
tians and Jesus of Nazareth. The redemptive prin- 
ciple of the religion of Jesus can not be found in their 
religion. The difference is, Jesus was seeking the 
kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, while they 
are seeking self-gratification. The impulse in Jesus 
was that of religious love; theirs is a religious lust. 
The impulse in Jesus led him to hunger and thirst 
after righteousness; theirs leads them to hunger and 
thirst after the things of sense. Jesus, in the things 
pertaining to this world, was the Lazarus; they are the 
Dives. 

Furthermore, I must be permitted to say that the 
popular religions of the day are manifestations of man's 
lustful character, in the moral and religious plane; 
and that it is more difficult to reform a man in his 
moral and religious lusts than it is in his animal lusts. 
It was for this reason that Jesus pronounced his severest 
woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought they 
were righteous and who despised others. Hence he 
said to them, "Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven 
against yourselves." Also, "The publicans and harlots 
do pass into the kingdom of heaven before you." 

The proposition reduced to its simplest form is this : 
True religion can not dwell with lust. ' " Ye can not 
serve God and mammon." But the religion of the 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 185 

Pharisee of every age is lust in its highest and most 
impregnable plane. Hence the more of such proposed 
religion they have, the farther are they from true re- 
ligion. Jesus was condemning lust in the moral or 
charitable plane when he directed that alms should be 
done in secret. The impulse to charitable deeds which 
looks to self-gain or self-gratification, brings no reward 
to the soul of the giver. If he is prompted by a desire 
after fame, or from a hope of inward satisfaction, he 
does not act from the true impulse. He who sounds 
the trumpet in the world or in his soul, to call atten- 
tion to his charities, can have no reward of his Father 
in heaven. He who acts from the true divine impulse 
acts spontaneously, acts as it were involuntarily ; that 
is, he is not aware that he wills. His left hand knows 
not what his right hand doeth. He meets with a case 
of need. He stops not to argue the question and de- 
termine probabilities and uses. The steel and the flint 
are in contact, and the spark comes forth. 

In the domestic relation of husband and wife, parent 
and cliild, brother and sister, there is much of this 
moral lust which is mistaken for love. Many profess- 
ing to be husbands, and really thinking themselves to 
be so, love the use of their wives better than the wife, 
just as the lustful in religion love the use of God bet- 
ter than God. 

It is this mistaking lust for love which begets so 
many unhappy marriages. The considerations leading 
to the union are not unfrequently of a lustful character 
altogether. Thus the young man seeking a wife is 
constantly trying the question of use. She will ad- 
minister to his comfort in this way and that, and upon 
the whole she will be the means of making him very 
happy. It will not be denied that in a vast majority 



186 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

of cases the man, in seeking a wife, is seeking after his 
own happiness, and he will cherish her while she con- 
duces to that end. But if he finds himself disappoint- 
ed — finds that she fails to fulfill his expectation — the 
ardor of his love begins to abate ; and just in propor- 
tion as he is disappointed in his expectations will he 
grow cold and neglectful. So common is this that it 
has arrested the attention of universal man. The dif- 
ference between the fondness manifested while yet the 
newly-wedded pair have met with no disappointments, 
and that which is manifested a few weeks or months 
later, has given rise to the expression " the honeymoon" 
meaning that the age of a single moon is usually suffi- 
cient to reveal the imperfections of the loving pair, and 
consequently to cause the ardor of their love to abate. 
The husband does not find, in the wife all that he 
anticipated. She is not so perfectly adapted to making 
him happy as he had hoped. Consequently he is dis- 
appointed. And as his happiness was the object of 
his pursuit when he was seeking a wife, and he mis- 
took that lust for self-gratification for love for the wife, 
being disappointed in his lust, he finds little or nothing 
of love left. 

It is thus, by mistaking lust for love, that so many 
disappointments take place, and so many unhappy 
unions are formed ; and while the individuals are 
under this lust for self-gratification, there is little hope 
of their doing better a second time. It was in refer- 
ence to this lustful and selfish love that Jesus said 
unless a man loved him or his doctrines with a better 
and purer love than that with which he loved wife, 
children, parents, etc., he could not become his dis- 
ciple. The simple truth of the expression was, that 
man's love, or the love of the world, was lustful ; and 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 187 

unless man loved God and truth with a purer love 
than that lustful love, he could not be a true disciple. 

The same lustful impulse is found in the parental 
and fraternal relation. Man is so naturally selfish and 
lustful, that it is found in every relation, leading him 
into the broad road to disobedience and sin. And 
herein is manifested the deep excellence of the moral- 
ity of Jesus, that it aimed a fatal blow at the lust 
itself, and thus " laid the axe at the root of the tree." 
" His fan was in his hand, and he thoroughly purged his 
floor," "gathering the wheat into the garner, and 
burning the chaff with unquenchable fire." 

In man's social relations the same lust after self- 
gratification is found. The friendships of the world 
have this lustful basis, and herein are they distinguished 
from true friendship. The selfish man or woman seeks 
social and friendly intercourse for the pleasure or grati- 
fication it affords. They cultivate social and friendly 
relations solely with respect to the pleasures thereof. 
Consequently their love of friends is only in their use 
to them. They love their own gratification supremely, 
and they love the use of that which will administer 
thereto — consequently their attachments turn upon the 
question of gratification. They do nothing, they love 
nothing in forgetfulness of separate self. 

This distinction between true love and lust is to be 
made in every plane. The true impulse in every plane 
is the manifestation of the present God in that plane. 
The obeying that impulse is obeying God. The har- 
monizing with it is harmonizing with God ; and the 
individual who in all things walks in accordance with 
its principles is walking with God, and is in the straight 
and narrow path which leadeth unto life ; while he 
who, on the contrary, is led by his desire after self- 



188 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

gratification, in whatever plane, is in the broad road 
which leads to antagonism and death. " His lusts, 
when they conceive, bring forth sin ; and sin, when it 
is finished, bringeth forth death." 

There is no middle ground between love and lust ; 
and unless the distinction be taken where I have taken 
it, it can not be taken at all. Excuse the principle of 
seeking after gratification as a true incentive to action, 
and you have destroyed the distinction between purity 
and impurity — between truth and falsehood — between 
holiness and sin. If action in respect to use and the 
gratification of self be the highest, then, indeed, there 
is no God — no virtue — no right. Such is the ultimate 
conclusion of those who know of no higher rule of 
action than pertains to the sphere of use and gratifica- 
tion. They know of no intrinsic virtue, goodness, 
purity, etc. They affirm of existence the qualities of 
good or bad from results. They say that a thing is 
right or wrong because the result is wrong, and not 
that the result was wrong because the thing itself was 
intrinsically bad. 

This is a very common error with the world. They 
are apt to trace the evil in the result and overlook it 
in the cause. The reason that lustful action is per- 
nicious is not because its results are bad, but because 
the condition itself is intrinsically false, and can not 
produce other than false fruit. 

We sum up in this. Man will never feel the need 
of that which he does not lack. He will never feel 
the need of happiness or gratification so long as every 
demand of his nature is gratified ; because the compli- 
ance with every demand of his being will of itself 
confer all that he can desire, and he will be satisfied. 
Hence the desire for that which he does not possess 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 189 

demonstrates that there are true and just demands of 
his being which are not complied with. 

Therefore any attempt to satisfy that desire, short of 
complying with the true demand, will result in beget- 
ting false action, which will tend to overtax and dis- 
ease some part of his organism, creating an unnatural 
demand in that department, which, instead of bring- 
ing satisfaction and content, will bring restlessness 
and disquiet,' calling for still further gratification. 
Thus lust, when it is conceived, bringeth forth a viola- 
tion of the normal or healthy condition, which is sin ; 
and that sin in its work, when finished, bringeth forth 
death. 



MARRIAGE-FREE LOVE. 

" Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am 
not come to destroy, but to fulfill." — Jesus' Sermon. 

Man, as a finite and relational being, is the subject 
of governmenf. Being produced and developed by 
laws acting to certain ends, he is the subject of such 
laws. Being receptive of influences out of himself, he 
is subject to such external influences, through their 
action upon his conscious perceptions and affections. 

Man, as a conscious being, is the subject of two 
classes of impulses. One is a sense of affinity, the 
other of restraint. The first is the natural impulse 
proceeding from certain relations, and is a spontaneous 
proceeding from such relation without considering 
consequences. The other is a reflex impulse proceed- 
ing from supposed consequences which will follow cer- 
tain conditions and actions, and has respect to ends or 
uses. 

This latter class of impulses makes him the subject 
of outward motions, and bring him under the dominion 
of laws external to his being. As such he becomes 
the subject of an external government. As a con- 
scious being, man is the subject of two classes of 
external government, the one which appeals to his 
selfish and lustful nature, and the other which appeals 
to his moral and relational nature — and he is the 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 191 

proper subject of the one or the other government, 
according to the character of his ruling affection or 
love. 

Man, as a conscious being, can be governed only- 
through some department of his consciousness. That 
which induces in him volition must address his percep- 
tions, and proceed thence to his affections. For man's 
affections can not be approached externally except 
through his perception. This is most manifest to the 
reflecting mind. Before an individual can love or 
hate an object, he must be able to perceive it. And 
his love or hatred thereof will be according to his per- 
ceptions. Hence it will be perceived that the individ- 
ual who is in the ruling love of self, if governed at all 
as a conscious being, must be governed by an appeal 
to his selfish nature ; that is, by an appeal to his hopes 
and fears. For so long as he is not under the rule of 
his moral nature, he can not be governed by its in- 
fluence. If man is to be controlled, he must be con- 
trolled by controlling that which controls him. 

The selfish and lustful man is under the dominion 
of his selfish nature, and whatever controls that nature 
governs him. And he can be governed, as a lustful 
being, only by controlling his selfish nature. The same 
is true in principle of the moral man, or he who is 
under the dominion of his moral nature. "Whatever 
controls the moral nature governs him ; and so long as 
he is under the dominion of his moral nature he must 
be so governed. Thus it will be perceived that our 
proposition is true, that man, as a conscious being, must 
be governed through that department thereof which 
rules in him. If it be the selfish, he must be governed 
by an appeal to selfishness ; if it be charity or moral 
love, then that nature must be appealed to. 



192 bPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

Since, then, man must be governed by an appeal to 
that impulse which rules in him, and since mankind 
are naturally under the selfish impulse, the first gov- 
ernment to which man becomes subject naturally is 
that of force ; and it appeals to his hopes and fears — 
that is, to his selfish desire for gain or happiness, and 
his dread of suffering and loss. Hence selfishness is 
the basis of the first dispensation of government. This 
dispensation of government is not calculated, nor is it 
designed, to make the comer thereunto perfect. Its 
end and use is to protect the individual from external 
or outward evils, and not from that which comes from 
within. It can not extend beyond the cleansing of the 
outside of the. cup and the platter. 

The most this kind of government can do is to 
restrain man from depredating upon the rights of his 
neighbor, by an appeal to his selfishness. Hence the 
language of the law pertaining to this kind of govern- 
ment is, "eye for an eye," "tooth for a tooth," "life 
for life," etc. It does not propose to govern man by 
appealing to his sense of j ustice and his love for right. 
On the contrary its language is, man has no sense of 
justice or love of right. He is selfish and sensual, 
and therefore the law appeals to his selfishness and 
sensualism. It says, Your love of your neighbor is not 
sufficiently strong to prevent you from injuring him, 
but your love of self is sufficiently strong to prevent 
your injuring yourself. Therefore says the law, If you 
injure your neighbor, we will injure you; if you kill 
your neighbor, we will kill you ; and the same blow 
which you aim at your neighbor, we will cause to fall 
upon 3'our own head. In this way this first kind of 
government takes advantage of man's selfishness to 
restrain him. It does not cause him to love his neigh- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 193 

bor. It does not cause him, from his heart, to respect 
his neighbor's rights. It does not tend to lessen his 
selfishness or lust. It does not in any manner tend to 
make him more true, just, and pure at heart. It only 
restrains him from giving expression to his selfish and 
lustful desires. 

So far as his motions to action are concerned, he is 
under the same impulse, whether he keep or break the 
law. He is as righteous at heart in violating its com- 
mandments as in observing its requirements. In either 
case he is governed by his judgment respecting that 
yhich pertains to his self-interest, and in keeping the 
law he is consulting his own gratification, and in vio- 
lating it he is doing the same. * 

So far is this kind of government from tending to 
make the individual better at heart, that it not unfre- 
quently makes him more selfish by intensifying his 
selfish feelings. The individual who is restrained from 
stealing through fear of punishment, and not from a 
love of justice, is a thief at heart, and will continue 
so notwithstanding the law says, "Thou shalt not 
steal," and by its penalties deters him from steal- 
ing. His neighbors may thank the law for its pro- 
tection. But that is the end of its use. It will not 
improve the moral condition of its subject. 

Such, then, is the nature and use of this just dispen- 
sation, sometimes called the first covenant. It is ab- 
solutely indispensable for the protection and preser- 
vation of individuals and society. Man left to the 
unrestrained exercise of his lustful and selfish nature, 
would not only destroy his neighbor, but he would 
ultimately destroy himself. And thus the very prin- 
ciple of self-protection compels individuals to associate 
together under these governmental forms, by means 

9 



194 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

of which the weak are to be protected against the en- 
croachments of the strong, the simple against the 
machinations of the cunning. 

This necessity gives rise to institutions among men 
which are designed to direct the manner of applying 
this power to the protection of those who institute them. 
The laws of these institutions are but the expressions 
of the intellectual and moral character of those who 
make them. Their wisdom is displayed in adapting 
the means by which their united force shall be directed 
to the execution of the governmental will, whether 
that be just or unjust. 

The uses of these external governments are most 
apparent ; by which I mean their uses as a means of 
protection. The highest possible use of governmental 
institutions is that of uniting and directing its force to 
prevent the weak from becoming the prey of the strong, 
and the simple the dupes of the cunning. If every 
man or human being had the means of self-protection 
always at hand, or if none were disposed to encroach 
upon the rights of others, but were disposed to do good 
to all rather than evil, then there would be no occasion 
for governmental institutions. So we see that the uses 
of institutions, as means of government, have respect 
to the concentration and direction of force. 

But as the selfish man can be governed only by an 
appeal to his selfish nature, and that must be addressed 
through the motives of hope or fear, these institutions 
of government, addressing man's hopes and fears, are 
indispensable for the well-being of society, and can 
never be dispensed with until man is elevated to a 
higher plane, and made the subject of a higher govern- 
ment. In other words, this kind of government must 
never be taken from man, but man must be elevated 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 195 

above, and thus be taken from the government. There 
have been two opposite errors respecting this kind of 
government : one declaring it to be ordained by God, 
and therefore to be observed and obeyed as an expo- 
nent of the Divine will and character; the other hold- 
ing that all governments of force and blood are con- 
trary to Divine appointment — both of which doctrines 
are true when viewed in a proper direction, and false 
when viewed in the opposite one. 

In the first place, it is according to Divine appoint- 
ment that man, as well as every other finite being, 
shall be governed according to the law of the plane in 
which he exists and acts ; because every thing exist- 
ing in a finite and relational sphere must become the 
subject of some law, or it could perform no mission in 
respect to itself or any other existence. Without law 
it could not be saved from utter destruction. And 
being the subject of law, it must be the law of the 
plane in wmich it exists and acts ; hence whatever may 
be the law of that plane, it is one of Divine appoint- 
ment. 

Man living in the plane of selfishness and lust must 
be governed by the laws of that plane; he can be 
governed by no other. Hence the law of that plane 
of sensualism requiring "eye for eye," "tooth for 
tooth," " life for life," etc., is a law of Divine appoint- 
ment for that plane ; and whoever descends into that 
plane of impulse, and lives there, becomes subject to 
its law. Having yielded himself servant to obey his 
selfishness and lust, he has become the subject of its 
laws. Having taken the sword, he is subject to its use. 
Having appealed to force, he must be sure to be on 
the strongest side, or he will be likely to be crushed. 

But while the law of selfishness and force is one of 



196 SPIPwITUALISH EXPLAINED. 

Divine appointment, in the sensual plane, it must not 
be understood as giving law to any other plane. If 
the law of " eye for eye," " tooth for tooth," etc., was 
applicable to the dispensation of sensualism, which 
the Mosaic represents, it does not follow that it is the 
true law of the Christian or Spiritual dispensation; 
and he who appeals to such laws of the Mosaic can 
have the benefit of them by continuing under that 
kind of government. But he must remember, if he 
wishes to obtain the benefits of the Christian dispen- 
sation, he must "put away the old man with his deeds." 

Hence, according to the teachings of Jesus, he who 
would become his disciple must rise above the plane 
of sensualism. The new law under which he was to 
come demanded that the law of force should be dis- 
continued. If he would have the benefits of the king- 
dom of heaven, that is, of the government pertaining to 
the moral and spiritual plane, he must not resist evil 
by force ; he must not smite back when smitten ; he 
must not indulge in feelings of hatred or unkindness 
toward any one ; he must love his enemies ; bless them 
in the midst of their cursings. He must be pure in 
heart ; he must hunger and thirst after righteousness ; 
he must, in all things, be under the dominion of a 
love, pure, holy, and unselfish. Such a one would 
be freed from the law of sin and death ; such a one 
would cease to be a debtor to the law of the first dis- 
pensation, and would be born into liberty, not into a 
liberty to do wrong, but a liberty which had respects 
to his purified affections. 

This will be understood by contrasting the principles 
of the two dispensations. The first governed by a 
force external to the subject, constraining him as a 
selfish being to do things not agreeable to him, thus 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 197 

bringing his will into subjection. The second gov 
erned by implanting the true affection within the sub- 
ject, so that his delight was in the law, according to 
the inward man. Hence the new kingdom was to be 
" within." The first was over man with force and 
fear ; the second was to be within man with charity 
and love. 

From this it will be seen, that the first government, 
or covenant, as it is called, necessarily required exter- 
nal institutions to beget and direct its force to compel 
obedience to its enactments and edicts. And these 
institutions were necessarily authoritative; and per- 
sons belonging to their plane of administration were 
compelled to submit to them, as to the authority of 
God. 

The second government or covenant which ignored 
force, and governed by love, had no use for such insti- 
tutions, and hence returned the sword to its sheath. 
Under its administration, swords were to be beaten into 
plowshares and spears into pruning-hooks. Men were 
to " call no man master." But it must be noticed that 
this second government pertained only to those who 
had come under the rule of charity and love, and thus 
had put off the old man and his deeds. So long as the 
individual, in his affections and lusts, continued in 
bondage to the impulses of his animal nature, he be- 
longed to the first dispensation, and must be continued 
under tutors and governors until the coming into him 
of Christ. 

Here, then, we see the two classes of errors into which 
mankind have fallen, the first by supposing that the 
laws of selfishness and force were applicable to all 
planes, and that the Christian could find authority 
under Moses. The second, by supposing that the laws 



198 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

of selfishness and force were to be abolished in every 
plane, not thinking that such law is just as necessary 
at one time as another, so long as man continues under 
that plane of impulse. Herein we can see the wisdom 
of Jesus in his teachings. He came not to destroy the 
law, or take it away from man, but his mission was to 
take man away from the law, and thus to fulfill or con- 
summate the uses of the law. He condemned not the 
law of force as applicable to those w T ho, in their selfish- 
ness and lusts, were under its dominion. And he did 
not propose to emancipate them by destroying the law. 
But he did propose to redeem them from under it, by 
calling them to a higher plane of impulse and action. 
He proposed to lead them out of Egypt, not take 
Egypt away from them. 

Herein is to be found one of the fundamental errors 
of Christendom, in not perceiving the true meaning of 
the first and second covenants ; that is, in not perceiv- 
ing the true sphere of the Mosaic and Christian govern- 
ments. Each are of divine appointment in their re- 
spective spheres ; and neither have respect to time or 
place of administration, but to condition. The Mosaic, 
which is a figure representing the governments of 
force addressed to man as a selfish being, will never be 
at an end so long as society is in a condition to re- 
quire that kind of administration. It will not be at an 
end in the individual until his moral nature is in the 
ascendant, until he keeps that new commandment of 
"Love one another." And the Mosaic dispensation 
will not be at an end in society until the kingdom of 
heaven is established in the hearts of the members 
thereof. 

The theologian has committed a great error in mak- 
ing the kingdom of heaven a historic affair, suppos- 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 199 

ing that the death of Jesus terminated the first, and 
introduced the second dispensation, not seeming to 
understand that the character of the government de- 
termined to which dispensation it belonged irrespect- 
ive of time or place. That government which is insti- 
tuted with respect to, and is administered upon the 
principles of selfishness and force, is Mosaic, no matter 
in what age or by whom administered. All civil and 
ecclesiastical governments which are external and 
forceful belong to the Mosaic, no matter by what names 
they may be called. A moment's reflection will dem- 
onstrate to a mind of ordinary intelligence and infor- 
mation, that all external human governments are of 
this character. We have no Christian governments 
exercising power and compelling external obedience 
to law. The very supposition is an absurdity. The 
very moment a government is organized, and clothes 
itself with external force, its Christian character is 
destroyed. 

Christianity, in its true spiritual and saving charac- 
ter, acts only from within the individual. It is not a 
government over men or among men. It is a govern- 
ment in man. It cleanses the inside of the cup and 
the platter, and thence makes clean the outside. Chris- 
tians have no need of governments to keep them in the 
right way. Understand me — real Christians, not pro- 
fessing ones. They have no uses for institutions, for 
each obeys the right, and takes upon himself the labor 
of all needful charities. 

Thus it will be found to be a truth of universal appli- 
cability, that wherever institutions, and especially 
legal institutions, are found necessary, the people are 
not Christians, no matter what creed they profess. 
Christianity pertains to character, not creed. External 



200 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

institutions are incompatible with true Christianity. 
Both can not live and act together in the same indi- 
vidual. Men have been conscious of this, and hence 
have been involved in doubt and difficulty as to their 
duties. But there need be no difficulty on this point. 
Let it be understood, that the man who feels the needs 
of outward restraint belongs to the Mosaic government, 
and by it he must be governed ; that all men who 
are under the dominion of their selfish natures have 
not put on Christ, and hence are under Moses. Such 
are under the law, and must be continued under 
"tutors and governors." 

External institutions, then, belong to the first di^ 
pensation, and will continue to be necessary so long as 
man continues to live under the dominion of his self- 
ishness and lusts. When he shall be redeemed from 
such nature in himself, he will be redeemed from bond- 
age to external institutions, and he can not properly 
be before. The evil, then, is not in the institution, but 
in that condition of the individual and society which 
makes the institution necessary ; and the remedy is not 
in destroying the institution, but in elevating man, 
and thereby dispensing with its need ; and until that 
is done, the law and the prophets must continue. 

This brings me directly to the institution of Mar- 
riage, respecting which so much has been said of late. 
Like all other institutions, it belongs to the external 
and Mosaic, and looks to the external relations of the 
parties. Its necessity is based upon the same selfish 
and lustful principle in man, as is the necessity of all 
other external institutions. 

Its office is protection, not purification. Hence all 
its laws look to legal security, but do not attempt to 
elevate and purify the affections. Those who have 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 201 

written and spoken against the external marriage insti- 
tution have acted very unphilosophically in supposing 
that the fault of which they complain was in the insti- 
tution and not in themselves. I will endeavor to make 
this apparent. 

In the first place, I will do them the justice to say, 
that the external institution is in character but little, 
if any, better than they affirm of it ; that it is made 
the means of rendering respectable the grossest lusts ; 
that there is no Christian difference between lust within 
and lust without the forms of wedlock ; that the indi- 
vidual who looks upon another with a lustful desire, 
when tried by the standard of Jesus, is an adulterer, 
whether sustaining the external marital relation or not. 

In speaking of the abuses of this institution, I would 
not have them abate their zeal by ceasing to proclaim 
its infidelity to that inward purity of soul so essential 
to the true Christian union ; but I would have them 
make a very different use of the fact. 

The use which many, and perhaps most of those who 
oppose the external institution of marriage make of its 
lustful abuses, is rather to palliate the conduct of those 
who are lustful outside of its license, by showing that, 
at heart, they do not differ from those who indulge in 
the same lustful desires and exercises tender its licen- 
tious permission ; thus very naturally taking license, 
and, when censured by others, pleading the respecta- 
ble guilt of others as their excuse. 

In speaking of the abuses of the marriage institu- 
tion, I would not plead them in mitigation of lust; 
nor would I make them the occasion of license. I 
would refer to them for the purpose of condemning 
more strongly the foul practice of seeking gratification 
in that direction. 

9* 



202 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

It is not to be objected to the external institution 
of marriage that under its sanction the grossest of 
lusts are practiced in the name of virtue, and that the 
weightiest evils are the result. Such is not the fault 
of the institution, but of those who use it for that pur- 
pose ; and were it not for the institution, under the 
present lustful condition of society, the same practice 
would become universal, and would be as respectable 
as it now is under the sanctions of wedlock. If the 
external institution does not restrain the exercise of 
lust between the parties thereof, it does render disrep- 
utable its exercise beyond, and thus exerts an influence 
for good to that extent. It does not make the coiner 
thereunto perfect in his character ; but it tends to re- 
strain him in the exercise of his lust toward others, 
and thus confines its evils to a narrower sphere. One 
of the greatest moral benefits of the legal institution 
of marriage is that it tends to restrict the lustful 
practices of the parties to themselves ; and, in real- 
ity, this is the bondage of which the objector com- 
plains. 

The advocate of that which is called " free love" 
complains that under the legal institution of marriage 
the parties are prohibited from following their attrac- 
tions or passional affinities ; that although they might 
have been suited to each other at the time of the union, 
that circumstances and tastes have changed ; that love 
requires variety, and that in matters of love each ought 
to be at liberty to follow its leadings. The first great 
error into which the advocate of free love falls is in 
mistaking lust for love. The doctrine that love changes 
is a fundamental error, and of itself demonstrates that 
the objector has mistaken lust for love. The true im- 
pulse known as love has an immutable basis, and will 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 203 

be as constant as the relation and need through which 
and for which it became manifest. 

The nature of hanger and thirst, as expressive of the 
needs of the body for food and drink, never changes ; 
and the gratification incident to the proper supply 
of those needs never changes until abuse and disease 
have wrought their work. Man's desire for particu- 
lar kinds of food may change ; but that has respect 
to lustful gratification rather than the supply of a real 
need. 

Eemembering our definition of lust to be a desire 
for self-gratification, we shall find that this change 
and variety in food and drink looks more to the grati- 
fication of desires than to the fulfilling of needs, and 
therefore belongs to the class of lusts. 

True love never changes. From its nature it can 
not. It being that impulse which indicates an affec- 
tional need, it must be as unchanging as the soul and 
God. Take that known as maternal love, and who 
that has known a mother's love will say that it demands 
for its life and continuance variety and change ? Tell 
the mother, as she presses her first-born to her bosom, 
that she will soon demand change and variety to keep 
alive her maternal affection, and she would reply in 
the language of Macduff, " He has no children." No, 
of all things else, true love will admit of no change, 
no variety. 

In no affectional relation, save that of husband and 
wife, would the free lover admit that love required 
change or variety. In the parental, fraternal, filial, 
and social relations that doctrine does not apply. 
The parent loves his child, and feels no demand for 
variety. 

What would be thought of that mother who should 



204 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

tire of loving her child, and give as an excuse that her 
tastes had changed ; that once her child was suited to 
her maternal affection ; but that now her maternal love 
had changed its character and quality, and demanded 
a corresponding change on the part of the object of 
its affection? It requires no argument to show that 
such can never be the requirements of maternal love. 
The same is true of every other manifestation of the 
affectional principle. Fraternal, filial, and social love 
will admit of no change; demand no variety. The 
brother and sister can love on and love forever ; the 
parent and child can do the same ; and true friendship 
abides in constancy of affection. But lust demands 
variety, and consequently change. When the true 
impulse is overlooked, and self-gratification becomes 
the end of pursuit, then comes with it the demand for 
variety. This is seen in eating and drinking. Hunger 
and thirst only call for simple food and drink. They 
will supply the demand. But the moment gratifica- 
tion is consulted, then great must be the change and 
large the variety. And by far the largest amount of 
labor and expense is bestowed upon gratification. 

The same is seen in the social department. Those 
who, in their social intercourse, are seeking selfish grat- 
ification instead of the happiness and well-being of 
their associates, are those who demand variety ; who 
themselves are cloying of one kind of amusement, and 
then demanding another. This principle of demand- 
ing change in food, in society, in amusement, etc., de- 
pends upon that condition known as cloyed; and it 
does not take place in respect to any need. The thirsty 
soul is never cloyed with drink until it ceases to be 
thirsty ; the hungry soul with food until hunger ceases. 
But it is not thus with lust; it ceases to enjoy one 



SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 205 

means of gratification after another, while yet the de- 
mand for gratification continues. The same principles 
apply tc the marriage relation. True conjugal love 
never changes. It can never change, because it must 
rest upon an unchangeable basis. The mode of beget- 
ting offspring must be as enduring as the race. The 
demand, therefore, will be as imperative as the neces- 
sity, and hence the desire for offspring must be as 
deep and fundamental as the soul itself. 

The law of procreation demands that in view of the 
great end to be accomplished, those who unite in the 
procreative art should unite upon the highest and 
purest plane. Hence the conjugal affection or love has 
its basis in this deepest and most immutable necessity 
of the soul. Understand me — man, in his present 
condition, is the grand ultimate of all past being and 
action. And that which took all past ages to accom- 
plish is committed to man in the command to be fruit- 
ful and multiply. The future is committed to him. 
That which comes into conscious being must do so 
through him, and the true foundation for the fulfillment 
of the great command is laid in the conjugal union of 
the male and female souls. To say of the impulse 
calling for such union, that it demands change and 
consequent variety, is blasphemously false and absurd. 
The basis of conjugal love is as deep and immutable 
as are the foundations of immortality and eternal life. 

But let this union be a mere external and lustful one, 
that is, one looking for self-gratification, and it becomes 
subject to the law of lust, and consequently, like every 
other lustful affection, will demand variety. The very 
nature of lust is to disease and destroy and to defeat the 
end sought. It therefore brings with itself ultimate cloy- 
ing and disgust ; and to remedy that, it must have change. 



206 SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED. 

That this is the nature of that impulse which free 
lovers mistake for love, is further evident from its as- 
sociations. The plea they set up is, that every one is 
free to seek happiness; and consequently when one 
relation or pursuit fails to conduce to that end, they 
should be permitted to change the relation or the pur- 
suit, and seek happiness in another. They make the 
seeking after happiness the great end of life ; hence 
they have adopted very appropriate language, such as 
" passional attraction," "passional affinity," etc. 

For this reason, in their assemblies they aim at self- 
gratification. Each is striving to beget pleasure. 
Their assembly-rooms are full of amusements and 
"innocent recreations," singing, dancing, playing at 
different games, chatting, etc., all pursued in respect 
to the pleasures they promise, and not in respect to the 
good irrespective of the pleasure. The plea is, the 
people demand cheap amusements, or rather need them. 
Cheap amusements are the very things they ought not 
to have. It is but another name for cheap dissipation. 
But the advocate for free love complains that the law 
and public sentiment hold him to his choice, when he 
has made a bad one. The uses and benefits of the law 
are seen in this, that they do hold all such to their 
choice, and bj so doing avoid a multiplicity of bad 
matches. 

The individual who is out seeking passional affini- 
ties is under the influence of lust, and the sooner he 
or she is caught and caged the better ; such can gain 
nothing by being permitted to experiment. Until they 
can rise above their selfish and lustful natures in other 
things, they will not be very likely to do it in matri- 
monial affairs. 



TIFFANY'S MONTHLY. 



The subscriber will publish a Monthly, devoted to the investigation 
of the 

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND 

in its Being, Action, and Manifestation in every plane of development, 

including the 

PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS. 

He will demonstrate the principles by which all the phenomena con- 
nected with Spiritualism can be understood, and by which all the ap- 
parent antagonisms may be harmonized. 

He will trace the divine method in all things natural and spiritual, 
showing the true relation of the finite to the infinite ; and will in- 
vestigate the laws of Divine manifestation in the light of axiomatic 
truths. 

He will demonstrate the existence of a religious nature in man, point 
out its needs, and the Divine method of supplying them. 

He will give the Philosophy of Christianity in its adaptedness to the 
redemption and salvation of man. 

He will teach the method of truly translating the actual, and real 
into the perceptive and ideal, by means of which the mind is truly 
unfolded in love and wisdom, thereby begetting in man true action in 
respect to himself, his neighbor, and his God. 

To be published at the office of the Spiritual Telegraph, New 
York. Each number to contain ninety-six octavo pages, small pica 
type. To commence on the 1st of March, 1856, and to be issued monthly, 
at $3 per annum, in advance. 

Subscriptions and remittances received by Partridge & Brittan, 
Telegraph office, 342 Broadway, New York. 

JOEL TIFFANY. 



ANDREW J. GRAHAM'S CATALOGUE 

OF 

PHONETIC PUBLICATIONS, 



IN AID OF THE 



READING, WRITING, AND PRINTING REFORM. 



The works mentioned in this List can be obtained at the PHONETIC 
DEPOT, 143 FULTON STREET, or will be sent through the mail with- 
out additional charge. 

GRAHAM'S PHONETIC QUARTERLY; organ of the American 
Phonetic Society ; printed partly in phonotypy ; devoted to a Reform- 
ation of the present modes of Reading, Writing, and Spelling. Twenty- 
five cents per annum, in advance. With seventy-five cents' worth of 
new Phonographic Works, as issued during the year, One Dollar. 

UNIVERSAL PHONOGRAPHER for 1855. Consists of nearly 
300 8vo. pages, 192 of which are in phonetic shorthand, and the re- 
mainder in phonotypy, phonetic longhand, and common print. Bound 
in muslin, $1 50. 

UNIVERSAL PHONOGRAPHER for 1854. Back numbers for 
March, April, May, June, July, August, September, November, and 
December. Six cents each. 

COSMQTYPE. Back numbers for May, June, July, August, Septem- 
ber. Printed partly in phonotypy. Eifty cents each. 

MANUAL OF PHONOGRAPHY. By Isaac Pitman. Forty-five 
cents. Roan, gilt, seventy-five cents. 



CATALOGUE. 

PHONOGRAPHIC INSTRUCTOR; containing a series of progres- 
sive lessons to be read and -written out by the student. Fifteen cents. 

EXERCISES IN PHONOGRAPHY. By Isaac Pitman Con- 
tains progressive phonographic reading exercises, "with interlined key 
in common type. Thirty-two cents. 

PHONOGRAPHIC TEACHER. By E. Webster, lately revised 
by Andrew J. Graham. Forty-five cents. 

REPORTER'S MANUAL ; A complete exposition of the Reporting 
Style of Phonography. By Andrew J. Graham. Sixty-three cents. 

PHONOGRAPHIC ALPHABET. Twenty-five for ten cents. 

FIRST BOOK in Phonetic Reading, with " Directions to Teachers" 
how to use it. Printed in very large and beautiful type. Three 
cents. 

53P A child or ignorant adult may be taught to read the common 
print in one third of the time ordinarily required, by teaching phonetic 
print first. 

SECOND BOOK in Phonetic Reading. Five cents. 

PARABLES, MIRACLES, AND DISCOURSES of our Lord and 

Saviour Jesus Christ. Phonetically printed. 82 pages. Each three 

cents. 

THE GOSPEL according to St. John. In phonotypy. Twelve cents. 

OUTLINES OF ASTRONOMY. In Phonetic Printing, with plates. 
Fifteen cents. 

PORTRAIT OF ISAAC PITMAN, inventor of Phonetic shorthand. 
Sixty-two cents. 



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